IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ozechr/v62y2022i1p26-46.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Industriousness and divergence: Living standards, housework and the Japanese diet in comparative historical perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Penelope Francks

Abstract

Quantitative comparisons of living standards across Eurasia continue to conclude that the eastern side of the “great divergence,” including Japan, lagged behind the leading regions of Europe from early‐modern times onwards. The “industrious revolution” model attributes this to the early spread in Europe of markets for labour and consumer goods. By contrast, in Japan, persistent household self‐sufficiency must have precluded improvements driven by market participation. However, qualitative evidence on the history of the now globally renowned Japanese diet reveals how a different dietary pattern, involving continued household‐based, non‐market production activities, might nonetheless have generated improved living standards, even if these are invisible to quantitative assessment.

Suggested Citation

  • Penelope Francks, 2022. "Industriousness and divergence: Living standards, housework and the Japanese diet in comparative historical perspective," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(1), pages 26-46, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ozechr:v:62:y:2022:i:1:p:26-46
    DOI: 10.1111/aehr.12222
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/aehr.12222
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/aehr.12222?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Masayuki Tanimoto, 2012. "The Role of Housework in Everyday Life: Another Aspect of Consumption in Modern Japan," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Penelope Francks & Janet Hunter (ed.), The Historical Consumer, chapter 2, pages 27-55, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. de Vries,Jan, 2019. "The Price of Bread," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108476386, September.
    3. Vries,Jan de, 2008. "The Industrious Revolution," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521895026, September.
    4. Kelly, Morgan & Ó Gráda, Cormac, 2013. "Numerare Est Errare: Agricultural Output and Food Supply in England Before and During the Industrial Revolution," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 73(4), pages 1132-1163, December.
    5. Ian Gazeley & Sara Horrell, 2013. "Nutrition in the English agricultural labourer's household over the course of the long nineteenth century," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 66(3), pages 757-784, August.
    6. Sara Horrell & Deborah Oxley, 2012. "Bringing home the bacon? Regional nutrition, stature, and gender in the industrial revolution," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 65(4), pages 1354-1379, November.
    7. Vries,Jan de, 2008. "The Industrious Revolution," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521719254, September.
    8. Humphries, Jane, 1990. "Enclosures, Common Rights, and Women: The Proletarianization of Families in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 50(1), pages 17-42, March.
    9. Francks, Penelope, 2019. "Diet and the comparison of living standards across the Great Divergence: Japanese food history in an English mirror," Journal of Global History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(1), pages 3-21, March.
    10. Eric B. Schneider, 2013. "Inescapable hunger? Energy cost accounting and the costs of digestion, pregnancy, and lactation," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 17(3), pages 340-363, August.
    11. Jan De Vries, 2011. "Industrious Peasants In East And West: Markets, Technology, And Family Structure In Japanese And Western European Agriculture," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 51(2), pages 107-119, July.
    12. Muldrew,Craig, 2011. "Food, Energy and the Creation of Industriousness," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521881852, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Motavasseli, Ali, 2016. "Essays in environmental policy and household economics," Other publications TiSEM b32e287e-169b-4e89-9878-1, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    2. Sara Horrell & Jane Humphries & Jacob Weisdorf, 2019. "Working for a Living? Women and Children’s Labour Inputs in England, 1260-1850," Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers _172, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    3. Daniel Barbezat, 2011. "The Economic History of European Growth," Chapters, in: Gail M. Hoyt & KimMarie McGoldrick (ed.), International Handbook on Teaching and Learning Economics, chapter 51, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Gregory Clark, 2018. "Growth or stagnation? Farming in England, 1200–1800," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 71(1), pages 55-81, February.
    5. Horrell, Sara & Humphries, Jane & Weisdorf, Jacob, 2019. "Family standards of living over the long run, England 1280-1850," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 419, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    6. repec:ehl:wpaper:106986 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Sara Horrell & Jane Humphries & Jacob Weisdorf, 2022. "Beyond the male breadwinner: Life‐cycle living standards of intact and disrupted English working families, 1260–1850," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 75(2), pages 530-560, May.
    8. Phil Withington, 2020. "Intoxicants and the invention of ‘consumption’," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 73(2), pages 384-408, May.
    9. repec:ehl:wpaper:111030 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Jaime Reis, 2016. "The Gross Agricultural Output of Portugal: A Quantitative, Unified Perspective, 1500-1850," Working Papers 0098, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    11. Morgan Kelly & Cormac Ó Gráda, 2012. "Agricultural output, calories and living standards in England before and during the Industrial Revolution," Working Papers 201212, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    12. Sara Horrell & Jane Humphries & Ken Sneath, 2015. "Consumption conundrums unravelled," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 68(3), pages 830-857, August.
    13. Horrell, Sara & Humphries, Jane & Weisdorf, Jacob, 2020. "Life-cycle living standards of intact and disrupted English working families, 1260-1850," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 106986, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    14. Horrell, Sara & Humphries, Jane & Sneath, Ken, 2015. "Consumption conundrums unravelled," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 101311, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    15. Gazeley, Ian & Verdon, Nicola, 2014. "The first poverty line? Davies' and Eden's investigation of rural poverty in the late 18th-century England," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 94-108.
    16. Schneider, Eric B., 2021. "The effect of nutritional status on historical infectious disease morbidity: evidence from the London Foundling Hospital, 1892-1919," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 111030, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    17. Clark, Gregory, 2013. "1381 and the Malthus delusion," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 4-15.
    18. repec:ehl:wpaper:28577 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Masayuki Tanimoto, 2010. "Housework and the Consumption History in pre-war Japan," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-779, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    20. Leticia Arroyo Abad & Nuno Palma, 2020. "The Fruits of El Dorado: The Global Impact of American Precious Metals," Working Papers 0179, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    21. Jane Humphries & Jacob Weisdorf, 2019. "Unreal Wages? Real Income and Economic Growth in England, 1260–1850," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(623), pages 2867-2887.
    22. Meissner, Christopher M., 2014. "Growth from Globalization? A View from the Very Long Run," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 8, pages 1033-1069, Elsevier.
    23. Mark Koyama, 2014. "The law & economics of private prosecutions in industrial revolution England," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 159(1), pages 277-298, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ozechr:v:62:y:2022:i:1:p:26-46. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/oznzsea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.