The Labor-Intensive Path: Wages, Incomes, and the Work Year in Japan, 1610-1890

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Universite de Toulouse; Universite Toulouse 1 Capitole
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050722000109
• 发表日期: 2022
• 页码: 368-402
• 关键词: great divergence; tokugawa japan; real wages; england; prices; CRITIQUE; medieval; village; GROWTH; MARKET

摘要

I use new evidence from servant contracts, 1610-1890, to estimate male farm wages and the length of the work year in Japan. I show Japanese laborers were surprisingly poor and could only sustain 2-3 adults relative to 7 adults for the English. Japanese wages were the lowest among pre-industrial societies and this was driven by Malthusian population pressures. I also estimate the work year and find peasants worked 325 days a year by 1700, predating the industrious revolution in Europe. The findings imply Japan had a distinct labor-intensive path to industrialization, utilizing cheap labor over a long work year.