<p>This is only for Europe unfortunately, but Bob Allen has a famous paper in which he presents reconstructed data for real wages in different European cities from 1350 all the way to 1799:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Allen, Robert C. "The great divergence in European wages and prices from the Middle Ages to the First World War." Explorations in economic history 38.4 (2001): 411-447.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>From real wages and price data, he then infers a measure of (extreme) poverty.</p>

<p>Look at Figure 5 in the paper. The scale of the y-axis is a measure of poverty in which 1 is the poverty threshold. Values above 1 on the y-axis correspond to real wages lower than survival rate (i.e. that do not allow a survival caloric intake), and values above 1 indicate a real wage above survival rate.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-15T01:50:14.403Z
I believe the data from the paper is publicly available on Bob Allen's website https://www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/People/sites/Allen/SitePages/Biography.aspx.
Martin Van der Linden
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-15T01:43:25.210Z
2016-04-15T17:26:04.933Z
2016-04-15T17:26:04.933Z
Martin Van der Linden
<p>There seems to be research showing that world poverty rates have declined since 1800, see eg <a href="http://ourworldindata.org/data/growth-and-distribution-of-prosperity/world-poverty/#200-years-of-lifting-the-world-out-of-poverty">this</a>. Is there any research on world poverty rates before this period? I am guessing that during this period poverty in much of the world would have gone up as a result of European colonisation.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-07T23:11:33.300Z
How would you define poverty pre 1800?
Giskard
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-07T23:18:16.793Z
maybe infant mortality or availability of food/shelter?
Max Flander
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-21T00:07:53.213Z
This paper may interest you: http://www.nber.org/papers/w8460
BB King
<reference-request><poverty><history>
Is there a study of world poverty rates over time pre 1800?
Max Flander
# Is there a study of world poverty rates over time pre 1800?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-03-07)

There seems to be research showing that world poverty rates have declined since 1800, see eg [this](http://ourworldindata.org/data/growth-and-distribution-of-prosperity/world-poverty/#200-years-of-lifting-the-world-out-of-poverty). Is there any research on world poverty rates before this period? I am guessing that during this period poverty in much of the world would have gone up as a result of European colonisation.

**Tags:** reference-request, poverty, history
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: How would you define poverty pre 1800?  
> **username_0**: maybe infant mortality or availability of food/shelter?  
> **username_2**: This paper may interest you: http://www.nber.org/papers/w8460  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2016-04-15. Score: 3

This is only for Europe unfortunately, but Bob Allen has a famous paper in which he presents reconstructed data for real wages in different European cities from 1350 all the way to 1799:

> Allen, Robert C. "The great divergence in European wages and prices from the Middle Ages to the First World War." Explorations in economic history 38.4 (2001): 411-447.

From real wages and price data, he then infers a measure of (extreme) poverty.

Look at Figure 5 in the paper. The scale of the y-axis is a measure of poverty in which 1 is the poverty threshold. Values above 1 on the y-axis correspond to real wages lower than survival rate (i.e. that do not allow a survival caloric intake), and values above 1 indicate a real wage above survival rate.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: I believe the data from the paper is publicly available on Bob Allen's website https://www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/People/sites/Allen/SitePages/Biography.aspx.  

---

