Wages and standards of living in the 19th century from a comparative perspective. Consumption basket, Bare Bone Basket and welfare ratio in Buenos Aires, 1825–1849

Abstract

Thus far, there is not one single consumption basket of Buenos Aires for the whole 19th century. The available series cover from the 18th century until 1810 and between the latter decades of the 19th century and the early 20th century. Most of the 19th century remains uncovered although research on prices of specific goods has advanced recently. In this article we construct two consumer baskets, based on primary sources from Buenos Aires archives: a Bare Bone Basket and a 'respectable' basket, according to Allen's denominations. Furthermore, through the calculation of the welfare ratio for those baskets, this study aims to achieve a better assessment of the urban and rural wages and real income of the population of Buenos Aires during this period.

CONSUMPTION AND LIVING STANDARDS IN BUENOS AIRES. CONSUMER BASKETS AND INCOME BETWEEN THE LATE COLONIAL AGE AND THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY

“…As will be seen, however, the differences do not go beyond the specific consumption patterns of a hospital. In addition, in this case I am using a source similar to the one we used for 1835 and 1849 (Gelman and Santilli 2018). Care was taken to separate the main expenditures of hospital activities, such as medication and special clothing, from those resulting from food consumption and other goods in the basket.…”

“…Firstly, it should be clarified that the 1849 basket is a repetition of the quantities consumed in 1835, but valued with the prices of 1849 obtained from the same hospital source, as explained in our previous work (Gelman and Santilli 2018).…”

“…We built a basket for 1835 (Gelman and Santilli 2018) consistent with the approach mentioned above 4 . In this study, I intend to compare that milestone with the late colonial period and the first half of the 19 th century, prior to that year.…”

Consumption Baskets and Cost of Living in Southern Late Colonial Brazil: Rio Grande, 1772-1823

“…Were these characteristics unique of Rio Grande or were low food prices due to the abundance of meat a common feature in the Rio de la Plata region during this period? To answer this question, we compare Rio Grande with the other two main harbour cities studied by Gelman and Santilli (2018) and Moraes and Thul (2017): Buenos Aires and Montevideo, respectively. Both studies used the 1,941 calories (Bare Bones) basket and welfare ratios according to Allen (2001).…”

“…3 Literature on living standards in Late Colonial and Post independent Rio de la Plata is abundant. See Johnson (1990), Arroyo Abad et al (2012), Djenderedjian and Martirén (2015), Moraes and Thul (2017), Frid (2017), Gelman and Santilli (2018). 4 A historiographical renovation in the last two decades has offered new insights into the economy and society of Rio Grande during the colonial period.…”