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Refrigeration And Distribution: New Zealand Land Prices And Real Wages 1873–1939

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  • David Greasley
  • Les Oxley

Abstract

The responses in New Zealand to the opportunities of refrigeration transformed farming in the Dominion during the half‐century from 1890. Closer settlement and the extension of the cultivated area combined with more intensive farming methods to increase land productivity and real gross domestic product capita to the extent that living standards in New Zealand measured by the Human Development Index ranked first in the world by 1913. In contrast, real wages in the Dominion stagnated. The refrigeration‐related trade boom had powerful income distribution effects that increased sharply the land rental–wage ratio during the years to 1920. Widely diffuse land ownership in New Zealand tempered the rise in income inequality, to set the Dominion apart from other land‐abundant economies of the periphery.

Suggested Citation

  • David Greasley & Les Oxley, 2005. "Refrigeration And Distribution: New Zealand Land Prices And Real Wages 1873–1939," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 45(1), pages 23-44, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ozechr:v:45:y:2005:i:1:p:23-44
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8446.2005.00126.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Bengtsson, Erik & Waldenström, Daniel, 2018. "Capital Shares and Income Inequality: Evidence from the Long Run," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 78(3), pages 712-743, September.
    2. Jorge Álvarez, 2015. "Technological change and productivity growth in the agrarian systems of New Zealand and Uruguay (1870-2010)," Documentos de trabajo 43, Programa de Historia Económica, FCS, Udelar.
    3. Bohlin, Jan & Larsson, Svante, 2006. "Protectionism, agricultural prices and relative factor incomes: Sweden’s wage-rental ratio, 1877-1926," Göteborg Papers in Economic History 7, University of Gothenburg, Unit for Economic History.
    4. David Greasley & Les Oxley, 2009. "The pastoral boom, the rural land market, and long swings in New Zealand economic growth, 1873–19391," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 62(2), pages 324-349, May.

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