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Housing and the cost of living in early modern Toledo

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  • Drelichman, Mauricio
  • González Agudo, David

Abstract

Data on housing costs and rental markets for the early modern period are notoriously scarce. Using a new database of rent paid on 183 properties belonging to the Cathedral Chapter of Toledo between 1489 and 1600, we reconstruct housing costs for various social groups and trace the effect of exogenous shocks on the rental market using hedonic techniques. We document a well-functioning market that responded swiftly and predictably to exogenous shocks. We then explore the impact of adding rent to early modern price indices and estimates of living standards. Price indices show a moderate effect. The addition of rent reduces the gap between Toledo and two northern European locations by up to 9.5%.

Suggested Citation

  • Drelichman, Mauricio & González Agudo, David, 2014. "Housing and the cost of living in early modern Toledo," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 27-47.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:exehis:v:54:y:2014:i:c:p:27-47
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eeh.2014.08.001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Charotti, Carlos J. & Palma, Nuno & Pereira dos Santos, João, 2025. "American treasure and the decline of Spain," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    2. Damian Clarke & Manuel Llorca Jaña & Daniel Pailañir, 2023. "The use of quantile methods in economic history," Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(2), pages 115-132, April.
    3. Jaime Reis, 2016. "The Gross Agricultural Output of Portugal: A Quantitative, Unified Perspective, 1500-1850," Working Papers 0098, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    4. Konstantin A. Kholodilin, 2016. "War, housing rents, and free market: Berlin's rental housing during World War I," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 20(3), pages 322-344.
    5. Ali Coşkun Tuncer & Gürer Karagedikli, 2016. "‘The people next door’: housing and neighbourhood in eighteenth-century Ottoman Edirne," Working Papers 16010, Economic History Society.
    6. Andrés Calderón-Fernández & Héctor García-Montero & Enrique Llopis-Agelán, 2017. "New research guidelines for living standards, consumer baskets, and prices in Madrid and Mexico," Working Papers 097, "Carlo F. Dondena" Centre for Research on Social Dynamics (DONDENA), Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi.
    7. Gürer Karagedikli & Ali Coşkun Tunçer, 2021. "House prices in the Ottoman Empire: evidence from eighteenth‐century Edirne," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 74(1), pages 6-33, February.
    8. Drelichman, Mauricio & González Agudo, David, 2020. "The Gender Wage Gap in Early Modern Toledo, 1550–1650," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 80(2), pages 351-385, June.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • R21 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Housing Demand
    • R31 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Housing Supply and Markets
    • N34 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: 1913-
    • N94 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - Europe: 1913-

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