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Six centuries of real wages in France from Louis IX to Napoleon III: 1250-1860

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  • Leonardo Ridolfi

Abstract

This article presents a new series of real wages for male agricultural laborers and construction workers in France from 1250 to 1860. I show that the overall picture is more complex than what a city-level early modern divergence thesis between northwestern Europe and the rest of the continent would suggest. Cross-national comparisons of real wages point to the coexistence of both divergence and convergence phases until the eighteenth century. One important implication is that the real wages of a significant share of the French male labor force were broadly on par with the levels prevailing in England before c.1750.

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  • Leonardo Ridolfi, 2017. "Six centuries of real wages in France from Louis IX to Napoleon III: 1250-1860," LEM Papers Series 2017/14, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    • Handle: RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2017/14
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    2. Radu, Cristina Victoria, 2019. "Real wages, labour conditions and the standard of living in Denmark: 1500-1900," Discussion Papers on Economics 2/2019, University of Southern Denmark, Department of Economics.

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    Real wages; Living standards; France;
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