Real urban wage in an agricultural economy without landless farmers: Serbia, 1862-1910

Milanovic, Branko and Mijatovic, Bosko (2019): Real urban wage in an agricultural economy without landless farmers: Serbia, 1862-1910.

Abstract

The paper presents the first estimate of the real welfare ratio for Serbia using the 19th century data on wages of skilled and unskilled workers (including the part paid in kind) and prices of goods that enter into "subsistence" and "respectability" consumption baskets. It finds a stagnation of unskilled wage close to the welfare ratio of 1, and a modest increase in skilled wage. The paper introduces several adjustment to conventional methodology in order to make it more relevant for predominantly agricultural societies.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Welfare ratio, real wage, Serbia, agricultural economy
• Subjects: N - Economic History > N3 - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy; N - Economic History > N3 - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy > N33 - Europe: Pre-1913

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