Judy Z Stephenson – författare

The quality of life experienced by people in the past is one of the most important areas of historical enquiry, and the standard of living of populations is one of the leading measures of the economic performance of nations. Yet how accurate is the information on which these judgments are based? This collection of essays, written by renowned scholars in the fields of labour, wage and welfare history, cogently undermine the validity of the data that have for decades dominated the measurement of these phenomena in Britain, Europe and Asia, and provided the statistical backbone for countless descriptions and analyses of economic development, welfare and many other prime subjects in economic and social history.

The contributors to this volume rigorously expose misapprehensions of long-run macroeconomic estimates of the real wage and provide a host of improved methods and data for revising and rejecting them. This volume is essential reading for anyone interested in economic and social history, economics and the application of statistical methods to historical evidence.

This book presents a new economic history of London construction in the early modern period. Drawing on extensive archival material from key sites such as St Paul’s Cathedral and London Bridge, it describes the organization of contracts and work on large-scale ‘extraordinary’ projects and maintenance contracts in the city during a key period of architectural and organizational development in Britain. Stephenson shows that the organisation of the industry and the welfare of its workers were shaped by the contracts and finance of large institutions and ambitious businessmen. Providing fresh wage and earnings data for craftsmen and labourers during the period, it offers new material and debate for economic, business and construction historians.