This article presents a radical reinterpretation of regional differences under later Old Poor Law in England and Wales 1776-1815 using parish/township-level GIS-mapping of a range of indicators from Parliamentary Reports linked to underlying 1801 and 1811 census population and 1815 wealth measures.
These findings are robust to alternative basket assumptions & are consistent with independent qualitative and quantitative evidence on welfare levels, urbanization, monetary capacity, & aggregate output.
The article contributes to debates on the timing of the Great Divergence by documenting another episode of high living standards under non-Western institutions.
The results indicate that living standards in Al-Andalus during the tenth century were high in both absolute & comparative terms. Unskilled workers in Córdoba around 950 & 1000 attained welfare ratios comparable to those observed in Fatimid Egypt & the poorer parts of Europe before the 19th century.
By 1200, real wages declined, particularly for skilled labour, reflecting rising prices & stagnant nominal wages.
This article provides the first systematic estimates of living standards in Al-Andalus (the Muslim-ruled Iberian Peninsula) in 950, 1000, & 1200. Drawing on prices & wages from legal documents and market regulation treatises, it reconstructs real wages and welfare ratios.
Now on Early View: 'The Golden Age of Al-Andalus? Living standards in Muslim Iberia (950–1200)'.
By António Henriques.
#EHS100
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Now on Early View: 'Regional and local divergence in welfare provision in England and Wales, 1776–1815'.
By John Broad.
@camunicampop.bsky.social @camhistory.bsky.social
#EHS100
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
