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Missed opportunities? The development of human welfare in Western Europe, 1913-1950

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  • Gallardo Albarran, Daniel

    (Groningen University)

Abstract

Income per capita suggests that the period 1913-1950 is one of missed opportunities for improving living standards in Europe. However, life in Europe during these years improved significantly, as citizens began experiencing dramatic declines in mortality, working time and inequality thanks to (among others) the spread of modern medicine and the introduction of the 8-hour working day. To measure the contribution of these aspects to broader welfare, I apply a new utility-based framework that, contrary to previous composite indices such as the Human Development Index, allows for a welfare analysis directly comparable to GDP across countries and time. The results using the new measure shows that income per capita underestimates welfare growth significantly (up to five percent annually). Moreover, with this indicator cross-country differences in living standards are much larger and more persistent than other composite indices of well-being imply. These findings call for a reappraisal of the evolution of living standards during the period 1913-1950 and, more generally, of the measurement of multi-dimensional welfare in historical contexts.

Suggested Citation

  • Gallardo Albarran, Daniel, 2017. "Missed opportunities? The development of human welfare in Western Europe, 1913-1950," GGDC Research Memorandum GD-166, Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen.
    • Handle: RePEc:gro:rugggd:gd-166
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/11370/83422d10-2129-4961-838b-0e0082a2d9f8
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    Cited by:

    1. Leandro Prados de la Escosura, 2018. "Well-being Inequality in the Long Run," Working Papers 0131, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    2. Giacomo Gabbuti, 2020. "A Noi! Income Inequality and Italian Fascism: Evidence from Labour and Top Income Shares," Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers _177, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    3. Gallardo-Albarrán, Daniel, 2018. "Health and economic development since 1900," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 228-237.
    4. Leandro Prados de la Escosura, 2023. "Inequality Beyond GDP: A Long View," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 69(3), pages 533-554, September.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • N30 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East

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