The Standard of Living of the Workers in a Spanish Industrial Town: Wages, Nutrition, Life Expentancy and Heigth in Alcoy (1870–1930)

Gómez, José Joaquín García; Gutiérrez, Antonio Escudero

doi:10.1007/s11205-017-1776-0

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Estimates of calorie availability from hospital patients exhibit a rising trend since the mid-19 th century, which was in part due to higher consumption of proteins (García-Gómez and Trescastro-López, 2017). In addition, spending on sanitary infrastructures per person increased slightly during the third quarter of the 19 th century and contributed to provide enough sanitary services for the growing population of the city (García-Gómez and Escudero, 2018).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Growth or stagnation? Well-being during the Spanish industrialization in Alcoy (1860-1910)

Gallardo‐Albarrán¹,

Gómez²

2021

Invest. Hist. Econ.

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This article examines the effects of industrialization on overall well-being in Alcoy, a classic industrial town during Spanish economic modernization, by developing a utility-based indicator of welfare that combines detailed information on wages, health and inequality during the period 1860-1910. We find that aggregate male welfare rose by 40 percentage points, and that most of this improvement took place before 1877. These gains were not equally distributed, since male workers in agriculture experienced long-term stagnation, while the well-being of industrial and service labourers rose substantially. We provide tentative calculations for female workers showing that their living standards did not stagnate during the last part of the 19th century. Furthermore, we quantify the implications of taking different age perspectives to measure well-being. We find that excluding the youngest part of the population from the calculations during the analyzed period underestimates welfare growth by more than 50 per cent.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Growth or stagnation? Well-being during the Spanish industrialization in Alcoy (1860-1910)

Gallardo‐Albarrán¹,

Gómez²

2021

Invest. Hist. Econ.

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“…They have been deflated to get real wages using the cost-of-living index estimated in José J. García-Gómez and Antonio Escudero (2018) for the city of Alcoy and for all the years in the period 1860-1914. 2 Thus, our variables are sector-year measures of male and female wages in real pesetas per day.…”

Section: Sources Of Data and Series Constructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given its historical importance, there are numerous studies of Alcoy's industrialization process (e.g. Joaquim Cuevas, 1999;Javier Puche, 2011;José J. García-Gómez, 2016;José J. García-Gómez and Antonio Escudero, 2018); however, none of these previous analyses have directly addressed the role of women in that process.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender Gaps in Wages and Mortality Rates During Industrialization: The Case of Alcoy, Spain, 1860–1914

Beneito

Gómez

2021

Feminist Economics

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What role did women play during industrialization? Interpretations of this key period of our history have been largely based on analyses of male work. In this paper, we offer evidence of the effects of women's involvement in the industrialization process that took place in Alcoy, Spain, over the period 1860-1914. Using data drawn from historical sources, we analyse labour-force participation rates and wage series for women and men in the textile industry and three other sectors of activity (education, health and low-skill services). We then connect the gender pay gaps with life expectancy indicators. Our results suggest that women's contribution to household income might have favoured the female life-expectancy advantage, an effect that seems to have been channelled through a reduction in the relative mortality rates of female infants and girls, at the expense of a higher mortality rate of working-age women.

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“…Our methodology differentiates the quantities budgeted by the municipality and the real expenses made each year. The first would suggest the political intentions, and the second would show the real effort made by the local authorities [88]. This reconstruction would include virtually all of the actions made by the public sector in this area, because the health and educational responsibilities in Spain were conferred to the municipalities during this period [89].…”

Section: The Intervention Of the Public Sectormentioning

confidence: 99%

A Socio-Environmental History of a Copper Mining Company: Rio-Tinto Company Limited (1874–1930)

Gómez

Pérez-Cebada

2020

Sustainability

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Mining activities cause serious pollution problems that affect health and the environment. This paper focuses on the environmental and biological effects that mining activity had on the population living and working in the Riotinto-Nerva area in the last third of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century, when this area accounted for approximately 10% of world copper production. To do so, we explore the social, technological, and scientific responses to environmental pollution caused by mining extraction in this area during industrialisation. Second, we analyse welfare indicators, such as the heights of conscripts and mortality rates, so as to examine the social effects of the mining activity. Third, municipal health and education expenditures are examined to study the intervention made by the local authorities to address the welfare problems caused by the mining work and environment. Finally, we examine whether the health policy had positive effects on the health of the population after the negative external effects of copper mining in this area had been mitigated. The findings show that the negative impacts of copper exploitation on the environment and welfare could only be diminished using health policies to combat this kind of urban penalty.

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The Standard of Living of the Workers in a Spanish Industrial Town: Wages, Nutrition, Life Expentancy and Heigth in Alcoy (1870–1930)

Cited by 5 publications

References 28 publications

Growth or stagnation? Well-being during the Spanish industrialization in Alcoy (1860-1910)

Growth or stagnation? Well-being during the Spanish industrialization in Alcoy (1860-1910)

Gender Gaps in Wages and Mortality Rates During Industrialization: The Case of Alcoy, Spain, 1860–1914

A Socio-Environmental History of a Copper Mining Company: Rio-Tinto Company Limited (1874–1930)

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