Purchasing power and living quality of the Biscayan workers, 1876-1936

Abstract

The standard of life has been subjected to changes and transformations and researchers have incorporated new indicators and new ways of measuring it. During the last two decades of the 20th century, the debate has been revitalized and although rent or wages are still vital to determine it, new indicators as for example height have been added. This work improves and extends the series of prices and wages. First of all, a new cost-of-living index, mainly based on retail prices, is elaborated, wich proves the tastes and preferences of consumption of working families, and the study finishes with the calculation of real wages by representative professions of the industrial area of Biscay. However, other elements from the puzzle are not forgotten, emphasizing, in this case, the so-called synthetic indicator of welfare, the height, very closely related to the purchasing power, the morbidity and the mortality.