Author Description

"Over the past several decades, research by economists and economic historians has greatly expanded our knowledge of labor markets and real wages in the United States since the Civil War. By contrast, the period from 1820 to 1860 has been far less studied. Here, Robert Margo brings attention to the economic significance of this time by collecting and analyzing samples from two rich sources of evidence on wages - the payroll records of civilians hired by the United States Army and the 1850 and 1860 manuscript federal Censuses of Social Statistics. New wage series are constructed for three occupational groups - common laborers, artisans, and white-collar workers - in each of the four major census regions - Northeast, Midwest, South Atlantic, and South Central - over the period 1820 to 1860, and also for California between 1847 and 1860. Margo uses these data, along with previously collected evidence on prices, to explore a variety of issues central to antebellum economic development."--BOOK JACKET.