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The End of Destitution

Author

Listed:
  • Gazeley, Ian

    (University of Sussex)

  • Newell, Andrew T.

    (University of Sussex)

Abstract

The paper presents a statistical generalisation, to working families in the whole of Britain, of Rowntree's finding that absolute poverty declined dramatically in York between 1899 and 1936. We use poverty lines devised by contemporary social investigators and two relatively newly-discovered data sets. We estimate an almost complete elimination of absolute poverty among working households for the whole of the Britain between 1904 and 1937. We offer a number of pieces of corroborative evidence that give support to our findings. We decompose the poverty reduction into the effects of two proximate causes, of roughly equal importance, the decline in family size and the rise of real wages. We conclude with some speculation about the deeper causes of the decline.

Suggested Citation

  • Gazeley, Ian & Newell, Andrew T., 2009. "The End of Destitution," IZA Discussion Papers 4295, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4295
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Walter Y. Oi & Todd L. Idson, 1999. "Workers Are More Productive in Large Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 104-108, May.
    2. Sen, Amartya, 1979. " Issues in the Measurement of Poverty," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 81(2), pages 285-307.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. The state & inequality
      by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2009-08-04 18:04:43

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Hatton, Timothy J. & Martin, Richard M., 2010. "Fertility decline and the heights of children in Britain, 1886-1938," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 505-519, October.
    2. Newell, Andrew T. & Gazeley, Ian, 2012. "The Declines in Infant Mortality and Fertility: Evidence from British Cities in Demographic Transition," IZA Discussion Papers 6855, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Gazeley, Ian & Holmes, Rose & Newell, Andrew T. & Reynolds, Kevin & Gutierrez Rufrancos, Hector, 2018. "Inequality among European Working Households, 1890-1960," IZA Discussion Papers 11355, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Britain; living standards; real wage growth; demographic change; poverty;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N3 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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