After da Gama: real wages in Western India, c. 1500–c. 1650

Abstract

The article analyses the evolution of Indian real wages for the period 1500–1650. It argues that the Great Divergence between India and north-western Europe was already visible by the early 1500s by making use of a new dataset of 2,710 separate observations, reflecting over 76,000 paid-out wages, for nine locations in Western India. These wages were deflated by rice prices and a basket of goods and imply low and declining standards of living over the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. In comparison with Europe, these real wages represent comparatively low living standards, and they were not much above those in Japan.