Mon Feb 16 14:45:40 EST 2004
ABSTRACTS IN ECONOMIC HISTORY
(c) 2004 EH.Net
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Name: Gregory Clark
Email: gclark at ucdavis.edu
Institution: University of California - Davis
Co-author: none
Title: The Condition of the Working-Class in England, 1200-2000: Magna Carta to Tony Blair
Internet Address of abstracted work:
http://www.econ.ucdavis.edu/faculty/gclark/papers/condition.pdf
By mail:
Department of Economics
University of California
Davis, CA 95616
Language: English
Abstract:
The paper estimates of both the real wages of male building craftsmen and
laborers in England for 1200-2000, and the wage premium associated with
skills. These estimates have implications for both the causes and the
consequences of the Industrial Revolution. They reveal, for example, that
as a result of the Industrial Revolution by the 1830s, English workers were
better off than in any time in recorded history. But they also imply that
modern economic growth, fuelled by productivity advance began long before
1760, and indeed before the institutional reforms of the Glorious
Revolution of 1688. Finally these estimates suggest that human capital
interpretations of the Industrial Revolution, formalized by Becker et al.
(1990), Galor and Weil (2000) and Lucas (2002), as presently constructed
conflict with the empirical record. Human capital accumulation in England
began in an era when the market rewards to skill acquisition were at
historically low levels.
Bibliography: Clark, Gregory. "The Condition of the Working-Class in England, 1200-2000: Magna Carta to Tony Blair." University of California - Davis, Working Paper, 2004.
Subject: T
Geographical Area: 4
Country/Region: England
Time Period: 0
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