Trends in real wages in Denmark since the Late Middle Ages

Abildgren, Kim

doi:10.1080/01615440.2016.1237862

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 36 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Because, I will argue, the limitations of the analysis point to some routes forward for research into working class living standards and inequality in the pre-industrial and industrializing periods. This paper is made possible by the large contributions to the macroeconomic history of Scandinavia in the last fifteen years by researchers such as Abildgren (2008Abildgren ( , 2009Abildgren ( , 2017, Edvinsson (2005), and Söderberg (2010), Eitrheim et al (2007), Grytten (2004aGrytten ( , 2004b and Prado (2010aPrado ( , 2010b, and Schön and Krantz (2015). These researchers and others have made great strides in enlightening Scandinavian economic history, relating to precursors such as Hansen (1972Hansen ( , 1974 and Jörberg (1972).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inequality and the working class in Scandinavia 1800–1910: Workers’ share of growing incomes

Bengtsson¹

2017

Investigaciones de Historia Económica

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

One of the major ways in which economic inequality can increase is when the development of wages of ordinary workers trail productivity and GDP growth, meaning that the increasing riches fall in the hand of other social groups (top employees, owners of land and capital). This paper investigates the relationship between wages and GDP in Denmark, Norway and Sweden from 1800 to 1910, using wage series for workers in agriculture as well as crafts and industry. It shows wages trailing GDP from the 1840s to the mid-1870s, with a particularly pronounced such trend in Norway. On the other hand, wages generally increase at the same pace as GDP in the 1870s, 1880s and 1890s. The early 1870s is a break point also for food real wages which start increasing at that point. Four explanations for the varying fortunes of workers are tested: price developments, population growth, emigration, and institutional changes. Variations in labour supply, stemming from population growth and emigration, are shown to be the most important determinant.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inequality and the working class in Scandinavia 1800–1910: Workers’ share of growing incomes

Bengtsson¹

2017

Investigaciones de Historia Económica

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…They suggest that the high wages are one possible cause of the mechanization, which later led to high productivity in agriculture. Abildgren (2017) also makes use of the scattered data available in previous studies, mostly for Copenhagen, to analyze the development of wages in Denmark, and estimates that the average growth rate of wages was between -0.08% and 0.00% for the period from 1500 to 1820.…”

Section: Literature and Contributionmentioning

confidence: 99%