Real Wages in Europe and Asia: A First Look at the Long-Term Patterns

Robert C. Allen

doi:10.1093/0199280681.003.0006

Real Wages in Europe and Asia: A First Look at the Long-Term Patterns

Robert C. Allen

Economics

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

Abstract

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, wage rates in Japan, India, and China were lower than their counterparts in Europe when the wages are compared at the exchange rates implied by the silver contents of coins. The cost of living was also lower in Asia than in Europe. The purchasing power of Asian wages was similar to that of wages in France, Italy, and Germany but less than the purchasing power of wages in the leading economies- England and the Netherlands. Real wage comparisons contradict the opinions of Smith, Malthus, and Marx that Europe was more prosperous than Asia before the industrial revolution.

Original language	English (US)
Title of host publication	Living Standards in the Past
Subtitle of host publication	New Perspectives on Well-Being in Asia and Europe
Publisher	Oxford University Press
ISBN (Print)	9780199280681
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/0199280681.003.0006
State	Published - Jul 1 2005

Keywords

Akbar
China
England
India
Japan
Real wage
Silver wage
Standard of living
Subsistence wage

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Economics, Econometrics and Finance(all)

Access to Document

10.1093/0199280681.003.0006

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