Summaries of Doctoral Dissertations

This study establishes long-term trends in the purchasing power of the wages of unskilled workers and develops estimates for GDP per capita for medieval Egypt and Iraq. Wages were heavily influenced by two long-lasting demographic shocks, the Justinian Plague and the Black Death and the slow populat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of economic history Vol. 74; no. 2; pp. 553 - 590
Main Authors Gutberlet, Theresa, Li, Ling-Fan, Monnet, Eric, Eriksson, Katherine, Hausman, Joshua, Rosenthal, Caitlin, Bogart, Dan, Keay, Ian
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01.06.2014
Subjects
19th century
Central banks
Coal
Coal mining
Cost control
Dissertations & theses
Economic history
Economic integration
Economic recessions
Economic theory
Electric power
Electricity distribution
Employment
Engines
GDP
Gross Domestic Product
Immigration
Industrial development
Interest rates
Investment credit
Machine tool industry
Machinery
Manufacturers
Manufacturing
Mines
Monetary policy
Purchasing power
Regions
Studies
Textiles
Transportation services
Water rights
Egypt
Iraq
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Summary:This study establishes long-term trends in the purchasing power of the wages of unskilled workers and develops estimates for GDP per capita for medieval Egypt and Iraq. Wages were heavily influenced by two long-lasting demographic shocks, the Justinian Plague and the Black Death and the slow population recovery that followed. As a result, they remained above the subsistence minimum for most of the medieval era. We also argue that the environment of high wages that emerged after the Justinian Plague contributed to the Golden Age of Islam by creating demand for higher income goods.
ISSN:0022-0507
1471-6372
DOI:10.1017/S0022050714000515