The Decline of a Fully Matured Economy: Rural and Urban Real Wages in the Republic of Venice, 1390–1790
本文构建了1390至1790年威尼斯及内陆地区建筑和农业工人的实际工资序列，测量城乡实际工资差距并探讨其决定因素，包括价格、消费、生育率差异以及建筑周期和瘟疫的不对称影响。
Abstract We investigate the relationship between rural and urban pre-industrial labor markets building a new series of real wages of building and agricultural workers for Venice and the Terraferma from 1390 to 1790. We measure the size of the rural–urban real wage gap and discuss its determinants, including rural–urban price, consumption, and fertility differences. We also relate the gap to building cycles and the asymmetric effects of plagues. Our findings have implications not only for measuring the size of the rural–urban wage gap, but also for the construction of real wage series more broadly.