Wages and Labor Markets Before the American Civil War

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The purpose of this project is to complete the collection of a large body of archival data on wages in the United States from 1820 to 1860. The data will be used to construct annual time- series of nominal and real wages for different occupations and regions. These new wage series will improve upon earlier wage estimates, and will provide important new insights into many fundamental aspects of nineteenth century American economic development such as the changes over time in living standards; the spatial integration of labor markets within the United States and in an international context; the relationship between economic growth and inequality; the role of economic factors in the coming of the Civil War; and macroeconomic performances in an era of little or no government intervention in economic affairs. This research is important because it will generate a useful new data set along with a more complete analysis of the evolution of the US labor market in the early 19th century.