The development of real wages in Norway about 1730–1910

Abstract

Prior to about 1850, the classes in Norway living in households where the living standard of household members was wholly or largely determined by the size of an annual wage paid in cash were numerically speaking marginal. In 1801, for example, the aggregate urban population of Norway formed no more than about 10% of the country's total population of 883,000. During the industrial revolution in Norway the subsistence economy was to a large extent replaced by the cash economy, but around 1910 about 360,000 of the occupationally active total of 880,000 were still employed in primary occupations.

Our thanks are due to Bjørn L. Basberg, Ingeborg Fløystad, Fritz Hodne and Ole Gjølberg for their helpful comments on the various drafts. We also thank our associates on the Wedervang study, the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, Judy Heggvik and Geir Løkken for their assistance in carrying out all the calculations. We are especially indebted to Professor Trygve Solhaug. Responsibility for errors and omissions is ours alone.

Our thanks are due to Bjørn L. Basberg, Ingeborg Fløystad, Fritz Hodne and Ole Gjølberg for their helpful comments on the various drafts. We also thank our associates on the Wedervang study, the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, Judy Heggvik and Geir Løkken for their assistance in carrying out all the calculations. We are especially indebted to Professor Trygve Solhaug. Responsibility for errors and omissions is ours alone.

Notes

Our thanks are due to Bjørn L. Basberg, Ingeborg Fløystad, Fritz Hodne and Ole Gjølberg for their helpful comments on the various drafts. We also thank our associates on the Wedervang study, the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, Judy Heggvik and Geir Løkken for their assistance in carrying out all the calculations. We are especially indebted to Professor Trygve Solhaug. Responsibility for errors and omissions is ours alone.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kjell Bjørn Minde

Kjell Bjørn Minde, b. 1951, assistant on the Wedervang study, Institute of Economic History, Norwegian School of Economic and Business Administration, Bergen.

Jan Ramstad

Jan Ramstad, b. 1952, research assistant NAVF, team leader of the Wedervang study, Institute of Economic History, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, Bergen. The aim of the Wedervang study is to compile a computer database incorporating the wage- and price-history material contained in the Wedervang archive.