Existing series suggest wages in London were substantially higher than in other European cities from 1650 to 1800. This paper presents new evidence from the construction sites that supplied the underlying wage data, and uncovers the contractual and organisational context in which it was...

This paper provides new information and data on how work and pay actually operated for skilled and semi-skilled men on large London construction projects in the early 1700s, and for the first time, offers detailed firm level evidence on the number of days per year worked by men. Construction...

Chapter 1: A short history of builder’s wages in Economic History -- Chapter 2: The market for building -- Chapter 3: Contractors -- Chapter 4: Contracts and ways of working in the building trades -- Chapter 5: What did bosses (in London construction) do? -- Chapter 6: Contracts and Pay at St....