IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/socsci/v101y2020i4p1326-1344.html

Colonial Military Garrisons as Labor‐Market Shocks: Quebec City and Boston, 1760–1775

Author

Listed:
  • Jeremy Land
  • Vincent Geloso

Abstract

The military occupation of Boston in 1768 shocked the city's labor market. The soldiers, who were expected to supplement their pay by working for local businesses, constituted an influx equal to 12.5 percent of greater Boston's population. To assess the importance of this shock, we use the case of Quebec City, which experienced the reverse process (i.e., a reduction in the British military presence from close to 18 percent of the region's population to less than 1 percent). We argue that, in Boston, the combination of the large influx of soldiers and a heavy tax on the local population in the form of the billeting system caused an important wage reduction, while the lighter billeting system of Quebec City and the winding down of the garrison pushed wages up. We tie these experiences to political developments in the 1770s.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeremy Land & Vincent Geloso, 2020. "Colonial Military Garrisons as Labor‐Market Shocks: Quebec City and Boston, 1760–1775," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 101(4), pages 1326-1344, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:101:y:2020:i:4:p:1326-1344
    DOI: 10.1111/ssqu.12797
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12797
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ssqu.12797?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. Peter H. Lindert & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2016. "Unequal Gains: American Growth and Inequality since 1700," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10670.
    2. Robert Warren Anderson & Noel D. Johnson & Mark Koyama, 2017. "Jewish Persecutions and Weather Shocks: 1100–1800," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 127(602), pages 924-958, June.
    3. Rothenberg, Winifred B., 1979. "A Price Index for Rural Massachusetts, 1750–1855," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 39(4), pages 975-1001, December.
    4. Alvin Rabushka, 2008. "Introduction to Taxation in Colonial America," Introductory Chapters, in: Taxation in Colonial America, Princeton University Press.
    5. Vincent Geloso, 2019. "A price index for Canada, 1688 to 1850," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 52(2), pages 526-560, May.
    6. Noel D. Johnson & Mark Koyama, 2014. "Taxes, Lawyers, and the Decline of Witch Trials in France," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 57(1), pages 77-112.
    7. Vincent J. Geloso, 2019. "Distinct within North America: living standards in French Canada, 1688–1775," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 13(2), pages 277-321, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Maja Uhre Pedersen & Vincent Geloso & Paul Sharp, 2020. "Globalization and Empire: Market integration and international trade between Canada, the United States and Britain, 1750-1870," Working Papers 0204, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).

    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. Vincent Geloso & Peter Lindert, 2020. "Relative costs of living, for richer and poorer, 1688–1914," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 14(3), pages 417-442, September.
    2. Rosolino A. Candela & Vincent J. Geloso, 2021. "Trade or raid: Acadian settlers and native Americans before 1755," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 188(3), pages 549-575, September.
    3. repec:jpe:journl:1495 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Vincent Geloso, 2019. "A price index for Canada, 1688 to 1850," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 52(2), pages 526-560, May.
    5. Vincent J. Geloso, 2019. "Distinct within North America: living standards in French Canada, 1688–1775," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 13(2), pages 277-321, May.
    6. Burnard, Trevor & Panza, Laura & Williamson, Jeffrey, 2019. "Living costs, real incomes and inequality in colonial Jamaica," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 55-71.
    7. Umair Khalil & Laura Panza, 2025. "Religion and persecution," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 87-159, March.
    8. Kulkarni, Parashar & Pfaff, Steven, 2022. "Church politics, sectarianism, and judicial terror: The Scottish witch-hunt, 1563 - 1736," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    9. Trevor Burnard & Laura Panza & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2017. "The Social Implications of Sugar: Living Costs, Real Incomes and Inequality in Jamaica c1774," NBER Working Papers 23897, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Geloso, Vincent J. & Salter, Alexander W., 2020. "State capacity and economic development: Causal mechanism or correlative filter?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 372-385.
    11. Johan Fourie & Frank Garmon, 2023. "The settlers’ fortunes: Comparing tax censuses in the Cape Colony and early American republic," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 76(2), pages 525-550, May.
    12. Johannes Buggle & Thierry Mayer & Seyhun Orcan Sakalli & Mathias Thoenig, 2023. "The Refugee’s Dilemma: Evidence from Jewish Migration out of Nazi Germany," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 138(2), pages 1273-1345.
    13. Ryan H. Murphy & Colin O’Reilly, 2023. "Freedom through taxation: the effect of fiscal capacity on the rule of law," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 69-90, August.
    14. Edwyna Harris & Sumner La Croix, 2019. "Prices, Wages, and Welfare in Early Colonial South Australia, 1836-1850," Monash Economics Working Papers 07-19, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    15. Aaberge, Rolf & Atkinson, Anthony B. & Modalsli, Jørgen, 2020. "Estimating long-run income inequality from mixed tabular data: Empirical evidence from Norway, 1875–2017," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    16. Javier Rodríguez Weber, 2018. "Alta desigualdad en América Latina: desde cuándo y por qué," Documentos de trabajo 51, Programa de Historia Económica, FCS, Udelar.
    17. Franck, Raphaël & Johnson, Noel D. & Nye, John V.C., 2014. "From internal taxes to national regulation: Evidence from a French wine tax reform at the turn of the twentieth century," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 77-93.
    18. Vincent Geloso & Vadim Kufenko & Klaus Prettner, 2016. "Demographic change and regional convergence in Canada," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 36(4), pages 1904-1910.
    19. Liu, Xianda & Hou, Wenxuan & Main, Brian G.M., 2022. "Anti-market sentiment and corporate social responsibility: Evidence from anti-Jewish pogroms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    20. Vincent Geloso & Alexis Akira Toda, 2024. "Pareto's Limits: Improving Inequality Estimates in America, 1917 to 1965," Papers 2408.16861, arXiv.org.
    21. Pedro Fandiño, 2022. "The role of social conventions on wage inequality: the Brazilian trajectory and the missed “Great Leveling”," Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 435-455, July.

    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:socsci:v:101:y:2020:i:4:p:1326-1344. 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: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0038-4941 .

    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.