Wages and Prices During the Antebellum Period: a Survey and New Evidence

71 Pages Posted: 8 Jan 2008 Last revised: 21 Jan 2024

See all articles by Robert A. Margo

Robert A. Margo

Boston University - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Date Written: December 1990

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to survey recent research on wages and prices in the united States before the civil War. The basic conclusion is that, while much progress has been made in documenting regional, temporal and occupational differentials, further insights will require a large amount of new evidence, particularly on retail prices. The paper also uses existing regional data on wholesale prices to construct new regional indices of real wages for artisans and unskilled labor from 1821 to 1856. The new indices suggest that real wage growth was less than previously thought in the 1930s and that growth was, by comparison with later periods in American history, very erratic in the short-run. The erratic nature of real wage growth was a consequence of persistent effects of price and real shocks.

Suggested Citation

Margo, Robert A., Wages and Prices During the Antebellum Period: a Survey and New Evidence (December 1990). NBER Working Paper No. h0019, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=570795

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