2017/10/01 by Trevor Burnard, Laura Panza, Jeffrey G. Williamson · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #Caribbean history, culture, and politics #Historical Economic and Social Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.3386/w23897
openalex publication_date 2017/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
This paper provides the first quantitative assessment of Jamaican standards of living and income inequality around 1774. To this purpose we compute welfare ratios for a range of occupations and build a social table. We find that the slave colony had extremely high living costs, which rose steeply during the American War of Independence, and low standards of living, particularly for its enslaved population. Our results also show that due to its extreme poverty surrounding extreme wealth Jamaica was the most unequal place in the pre-modern world. Furthermore, all of these characteristics applied to the free population alone.