(In-kind) wages and labour relations in the Middle Ages: it’s not (all) about the money

Claridge, Jordan ORCID: 0000-0002-8064-7394, Delabastita, Vincent and Gibbs, Spike (2024) (In-kind) wages and labour relations in the Middle Ages: it’s not (all) about the money. Explorations in Economic History, 94. ISSN 0014-4983

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Abstract

This paper explores the prevalence of in-kind wages in medieval labour markets and the underlying reasons for their use. Using a new dataset of agricultural labourers in medieval England, we demonstrate that, until the late fourteenth century, wages were recorded anonymously and most remuneration was done through in-kind payment. From the 1370s, however, labour remuneration shifted increasingly to cash and workers began to be named individually in the accounts which recorded their wages. We argue that these changes reveal a fundamental shift in labour relations in late medieval England, providing new empirical insights into the ‘golden age of labour’ that followed the Black Death.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2024 The Author(s)
Divisions:	Economic History
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions
JEL classification:	J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J3 - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs > J33 - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J4 - Particular Labor Markets > J42 - Monopsony; Segmented Labor Markets N - Economic History > N3 - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Income, and Wealth > N33 - Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Income and Wealth: Europe: Pre-1913 N - Economic History > N5 - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment, and Extractive Industries > N53 - Europe: Pre-1913
Date Deposited:	02 Oct 2024 10:51
Last Modified:	02 Dec 2024 19:33
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/125597

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