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Pre-revolution living standards: Russia, 1888-1917

Author

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  • Ekaterina Khaustova

    (Russian State Social University)

Abstract

"After 1917 Russia underwent extraordinary transformations. Its capitalist based economy was reshaped to centrally-planned economic system. Recent studies rest upon the shared assumption that the effect of adverse social, geographical, political or historical conditions persisted over that time, keeping pre- revolution Russian economy behind and stimulating workers to fight. Many samples of previous research drawn by economists of Soviet era, which were reflected on the results. However was it really so bad? Our reconstruction of Russian living standards scrutinizes real wages structure distribution per capita, income levels divided between the two main cities (Moscow and St.Petersburg) and groups of workers. We adopt Robert C. Allen subsistence basket methodology. This study has shown the that the annual wages earned by male adult workers sufficed to sustain a household at subsistence level for the entire pre- revolution period, with the exception of the years 1916-1917. International comparisons with some developed European cities have shown that the picture of Russian labour-class living standards is much wider and needs historical and economical revision."

Suggested Citation

  • Ekaterina Khaustova, 2013. "Pre-revolution living standards: Russia, 1888-1917," Working Papers 13037, Economic History Society.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehs:wpaper:13037
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Natalia Drozdova & Irina Kormilitsyna, 2011. "Government economic policy and the formation of investment climate: the experience of Russia in the late 19th – early 20th centuries," Working Papers 11023, Economic History Society.
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    3. Gregory, Paul & Sailors, Joel W., 1976. "Russian Monetary Policy and Industrialization, 1861-1913," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 36(4), pages 836-851, December.
    4. Allen,Robert C., 2009. "The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521868273.
    5. Allen, Robert C., 2001. "The Great Divergence in European Wages and Prices from the Middle Ages to the First World War," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 411-447, October.
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    8. Drozdova, Natalia P. & Kormilitsyna, Irina G., 2010. "Government Economic Policy and the Formation of the Investment Climate: The Experience of Russia in the Late Nineteenth - Early Twentieth Centuries," Working Papers 847, Graduate School of Management, St. Petersburg State University.
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Russian revolution; living standards; labour wages; food price; welfare levels.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N00 - Economic History - - General - - - General

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