The Standard of Living of the Workers in a Spanish Industrial Town: Wages, Nutrition, Life Expentancy and Heigth in Alcoy (1870–1930)

We are referring to Norhdaus and Tobin (1973), Myrdal (1974), Samuelson (1983), or Morris (1979), who proposed alternative well-being indicators to income per person. The Nordhaus and Tobin’s EWM (Economic Well-being Measure) and the Samuelson’s NEW (Net Economic Well-being) modified the income adding variables like the value of leisure time and the housewives’ work and deducting the military costs and the contamination and urban life costs. Morris proposed The Physical Quality of Life Index, which includes life expectancy at the age of 1 year, infant mortality and the adult literacy rate and is obtained through the arithmetic mean of its three parts. Morris has defended the viability of the indicator because it contains a function of well-being defined by the enjoyment of a long life with the possibility of prospering due to literacy and because, in under-developed countries, a substantial part of basic consumption is not made through the market, so infant mortality and life expectancy are better indicators than income for capturing nutrition and health. These variables are also easy to estimate and therefore are more reliable than the dubious figures for income of many under-developed countries.

On the HDI, consult the Human Development Reports published from the year 2000 by the United Nations Development Programme. In 2010, the way to estimate the HDI was modified. The life expectancy was conserved as an indicator of health but the way to estimate education and the income changed, replacing the arithmetic average of the three components by a geometric one.

There is an abundant bibliography on anthropometry. Here we will only mention a few pioneering studies: Fogel and Engerman (1974), Engerman (1976), Eveleth and Tanner (1976), Fogel et al. (1982), Fogel (1989), Tanner (1990), Steckel (1995), Steckel and Floud (1997), Komlos and Baten (1998) and the recent compilation of studies edited by Floud et al. (2014). For Spain, see Martínez-Carrión and Puche (2011).

Pioneer studies which defend the use of several indicators of well-being include Crafts (1997), Floud and Harris (1997) and Horlings and Smits (1998). More recently, Stiglitz et al. (2010). For the Spanish case, Escudero and Simón (2003) have studied the evolution of well-being between 1850 and 1992 using income per person, the Physical Quality of Life Index, the Human Development Index and height.

The war of succession to the Spanish Crown was originated after the death of Carlos II in 1701. France and the Kingdom of Castile defended Felipe of Anjou, of the dynasty of the Bourbons. The Kingdom of Aragon and the Great Coalition (England, United provinces, Austria and Prussia) defended the Archduke Charles, of the dynasty of the Habsburgs. Once Philip of Anjou was named King of Spain, signed the Nueva Planta Decrees, which abolished the ancient privileges of the Crown of Aragon in 1707.

On the wool industry in Alcoy since the 14th c. to the 18 c., see Torró Gil (1994a, b, 2004).

Since we do not have data the Spanish production of wool in the nineteenth century, specialists have used tax data for the main production centres. Data suggest that in 1856, 30% of Spanish wool production came from Terrassa and Sabadell, and 10% of Alcoy. Nadal (2003, p. 141).

General studies on the industrialisation of Alcoy are Aracil and García (1974), Cerdá (1967, 1980) and Cuevas (1999). On the paper industry, see Gutierrez (2011) and Nadal (2003, pp. 154, 179).

Gutiérrez (2011, op. cit.).

In 1860, 60% of the active population worked in the industry and this percentage came to exceed 75% in the Decade of 1920. The data have been calculated by José Joaquín García making use of the municipal censuses of population and the municipal statistics of labourers.

Engel stated that the percentage of income allocated for food purchases decreases as income rises. Economists have extended this definition considering that as a household's income increases, the percentage of income spent on inferior goods decreases while the proportion spent on other goods (such as luxury goods) increases. One of the issues discussed in the debate on the standard of living of the British working class during the Industrial Revolution relates to the conditions that the estimate of real wages should fulfil. See, for example, Flinn (1974), Lindert and Williamson (1983), Crafts (1985), Scholliers (1989), Feinstein (1998) and Clark (2001).

The CPI measures the changes in the price of a market basket of consumer goods and services representing the consumption of the households.

Cost-of living indices of the Spanish regions are those of Moreno Lázaro (2006) for Castilla la Vieja; Lana Berasaín (2005) for Navarre; Molina de Dios (2003) for Mallorca and Pérez Castroviejo (2006) for Biscay. CPIs for the Great Britain of the Industrial Revolution in Feinstein (1998) and Clark (2001).

The apparent consumption is a method widely used in Economy and Economic History to estimate the consumption of a country or a region. It is defined as the production plus imports minus exports, sometimes also adjusted for changes in inventories.

We use the term “nutrition transition” in the sense proposed by Popkin (1993). An initial period before the Neolithic period which Popkin called “food collection” was followed by the “hunger” stage. At the end of the eighteenth century, another phase began characterised by diets based on saturated fats, sugar and carbohydrates which, well into the twentieth century gave rise to an increase in obesity. We should point out that the nutrition transition did not occur in the same way in Atlantic Europe as it did in Mediterranean Europe as in the latter case it began later and was a slower process. See Pujol and Cussó (2014).

This can be clearly seen between the end of the 1860s and the 1890s when the population of Alcoy increased by 30%.

On the urban penalty, Preston and Van de Walle (1978), Woods and Woodward (1984), Woodward (1984), Kearns (1988, 1991), Bairoch (1988), Schofield et al. (1991), Mooney (1994), Vögele (1998, 2000), Szreter and Mooney (1998), Woods (2000, 2003), Haines (2001, 2004). A statement of the situation in Spanish is to be found in Escudero and Nicolau (2014).

The construction of housing requires a series of previous conditions which extend the execution time of the works (the project design, purchase of the land, construction license, bank loans, hiring of the construction company and the time of execution was rarely less than 2 years). Although there are many studies that explain why adjustments in the real estate markets do not take place in the short term, we can highlight Smith et al. (1988).

Other measures proposed by the hygienists were the paving of the streets, refuse collection, vaccination, the “Gotas de Leche” child nutrition programme and the outreach campaigns about child care and child nutrition and personal and domestic hygiene. On health reform in the cities, see Szreter (2002a, b, c, 2005). Also Bell and Millward (1998), Fraser (1993), Luckin (2000), Harris (2004) and Sheard and Power (2000).

In fact, in other Spanish city suffering urban penalty as La Unión, this percentage reached to 86.4% between 1877 and 1900. (Escudero, García-Gómez and Martínez Soto, work in reviewing).

For child labour and the harsh working conditions in Alcoy during the industrialisation process, see Beneito (2003).

A more in-depth analysis of the evolution of nominal and real wages can be found in García-Gómez (2013), pp. 503–536.

The period known in Spain as the Restoration began in 1876 when a military coup d’état restored the monarchy under Alfonso XIII and ended in 1923 when General Primo de Rivera established the Dictatorship.

García-Gómez (2016) and García-Gómez and Salort (2014) have studied the political reasons why the health reform was delayed until the 1890s.

The settlements can be found in the Archivo Municipal de Alcoy.

From the beginning of the twentieth century, the State enacted legislation that improved working conditions: regulation of child and female labour, a reduction in the working day to 9 h and the Sunday rest law. See Beneito (2003).