Gazeley, Ian, Gutierrez Rufrancos, Hector, Newell, Andrew, Reynolds, Kevin and Searle, Rebecca (2016) The poor and the poorest, 50 years on: evidence from British Household Expenditure surveys of the 1950s and 1960s. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A (Statistics in Society). ISSN 0964-1998
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Abstract
We re-explore Abel-Smith and Townsend’s landmark study of poverty in early post WW2 Britain. They found a large increase in poverty between 1953-4 and 1960, a period of relatively strong economic growth. Our re-examination is a first exploitation of the data extracted from the recent digitisation of the Ministry of Labour’s Enquiry into Household Expenditure in 1953-4. First we closely replicate their results. We find that Abel-Smith and Townsend’s method generated a greater rise in poverty than other reasonable methods. Using contemporary standard poverty lines, we find that the relative poverty rate grew only a little at most, and the absolute poverty rate fell, between 1953-4 and 1961, as might be expected in a period of rising real incomes and steady inequality. We also extend the poverty rate time series of Goodman and Webb (1995) back to 1953-4.
Item Type: | Article |
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Keywords: | Inequality, 1950s Britain, Poverty |
Schools and Departments: | School of History, Art History and Philosophy > American Studies School of Business, Management and Economics > Economics |
Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HC Economic history and conditions |
Depositing User: | Ian Gazeley |
Date Deposited: | 15 Jun 2016 09:10 |
Last Modified: | 27 Apr 2017 12:21 |
URI: | http://srodev.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/61501 |
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📧 Request an updateProject Name | Sussex Project Number | Funder | Funder Ref |
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British Living Standards | R2E8 | ESRC | RES=062-23-2054 |