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On Historical Household Budgets

Author

Listed:
  • Brian A'Hearn
  • Nicola Amendola
  • Giovanni Vecchi

Abstract

The paper argues that household budgets are the best starting point for investigating a number of big questions related to the evolution of the living standards during the last two-three centuries. If one knows where to look, historical family budgets are more abundant than might be suspected. And statistical techniques have been developed to handle the associated problems of small, incomplete, and unrepresentative samples. We introduce the Historical Household Budgets (HHB) Project, aimed at gathering data and sources, but also at creating an informational infrastructure that provides i) reliable storage and easy access to historical family budget data, along with ii) tools to configure the data as it is entered so as to harmonise it with present-day surveys.

Suggested Citation

  • Brian A'Hearn & Nicola Amendola & Giovanni Vecchi, 2016. "On Historical Household Budgets," Rivista di storia economica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 2, pages 137-176.
    • Handle: RePEc:mul:jrkmxm:doi:10.1410/84061:y:2016:i:2:p:137-176
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    Cited by:

    1. Eric Gaisie, 2017. "Living standards in pre-independent Ghana: evidence from household budgets," HHB Working Papers Series 7, The Historical Household Budgets Project.
    2. Maria Gomez-Leon & Giacomo Gabbuti, 2021. "Wars, Depression, and Fascism: Income Inequality in Italy, 1900-1950," Documentos de Trabajo - Lan Gaiak Departamento de Economía - Universidad Pública de Navarra 2104, Departamento de Economía - Universidad Pública de Navarra.
    3. Francesco Olivanti, 2018. "Standard Budgets in Spanish Economic History: a User’s Guide to Sources and Methods," HHB Working Papers Series 10, The Historical Household Budgets Project.
    4. Rintamäki, Tuomas & Siddiqui, Afzal S. & Salo, Ahti, 2020. "Strategic offering of a flexible producer in day-ahead and intraday power markets," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 284(3), pages 1136-1153.
    5. Stefano Chianese, 2017. "The baraccati of Rome: internal migration, housing, and poverty in fascist Italy (1924-1933)," CEIS Research Paper 395, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 03 Feb 2017.
    6. Komlos John, 2016. "Has Creative Destruction become more Destructive?," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 16(4), pages 1-12, October.
    7. Giovanni Vecchi, 2019. "Book review of Ten Thousand Years of Inequality. The Archaeology of Wealth Differences," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 17(4), pages 591-594, December.
    8. Giacomo Gabbuti, 2018. "Labour Shares and Income Inequality: Insights from Italian Economic History, 1895-2015," HHB Working Papers Series 13, The Historical Household Budgets Project.
    9. Psimopoulos, Emmanouil & Bee, Elena & Widén, Joakim & Bales, Chris, 2019. "Techno-economic analysis of control algorithms for an exhaust air heat pump system for detached houses coupled to a photovoltaic system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 249(C), pages 355-367.
    10. Glennon, Dennis & Kiefer, Hua & Mayock, Tom, 2018. "Measurement error in residential property valuation: An application of forecast combination," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 1-29.
    11. Mongrain, Philippe & Nadeau, Richard & Jérôme, Bruno, 2021. "Playing the synthesizer with Canadian data: Adding polls to a structural forecasting model," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 289-301.
    12. Mancini, Giulia, 2020. "Breadwinner, bread maker. Gender division of labor and intrahousehold inequality in 1930s rural Italy," MPRA Paper 102142, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Stefano Chianese, 2016. "The baraccati of Rome: internal migration, housing, and poverty in fascist Italy (1924-1933)," HHB Working Papers Series 6, The Historical Household Budgets Project.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Household Budgets; Household Budget Surveys; Living Standards; Inequality; Poverty; Survey; Globalization; Purchasing Power Parities; Grouped Data; Post-Stratification.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N30 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • C81 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Microeconomic Data; Data Access
    • C83 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Survey Methods; Sampling Methods
    • D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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