This document summarizes economic data from England and Wales since the Middle Ages. It includes two tables of data: Table 5 shows the share of wealth and income held by the top 5% and 10% of households from 1670-1973, and Table 9 shows sectoral shares of GDP from 1300-1870 in categories like real wages, GDP per capita, and labor share. An aggregate trend line is plotted combining these economic indicators, showing overall economic wealth has increased since the Middle Ages but dipped during periods of plague and agricultural depression.

1. Comparative economics England
& Wales since the Middle Ages
Andrew Zolnai
blog.zolnai.ca
@azolnai

2. Premise
• Medium post Welcome back to the new Middle Ages
• “After the post-WWII boom, backslide as socialist experiments failed”
• See previous post
on old website
Passing Generation
• And foreground ‘haves’ vs
background ‘have nots’
at right, see also § 3:
Evolution of
pre-Medium post
Varanasi1967,GregZolnai

3. Statistics
• Inspired by statistics at UN Data and Guardian Datablog
• Also mapped East Anglia economic geo-history since Middle Ages
• Two papers studying economic wealth in Great Britain since the
Middle Ages:
• Unequal English Wealth since 1670, Peter H. Lindert, Journal of Political
Economy, 1986, vol. 94, no. 6, link, Table 5 next page
• British Economic Growth, 1270-1870: an output-based approach, Stephen
Broadberret al., 2011, accessed 04/08/2018, link, Table 9 next page
• Copies of data and derivatives posted here as CC BY-SA 3.0

4. Data
Table 5
Shares of Wealth and income held by top 5% of adults and top 10% of
households, both sexes, England & Wales, 167-1973
1670 1700 1740 1810 1875 1973
Preferred
estimate 84.7 81.9 86.9 85.3 84 49.5
1875 level 72.3 78.6 77.6 81.5 84 49.2
Table 9
Sectoral shares in current price GDP, 1270-1870 (%)
1300-
1340
1340-
1450
1450-
1650
1650-
1750
1750-
1800
1800-
1860
Real wage 5.5 75 -50.4 15.2 -3.6 59.7
GDP/capita 2.8 30.6 4.2 48.3 19.6 46.7
Labour share -5.1 15.3 -8.5 -1.7 -0.2 12.1
Relative prices 4.4 -6.4 8 -0.7 9.2 1.6
0
20
40
60
80
100
1670 1700 1740 1810 1875 1973
Table 5
Preferred estimate 1875 level
-60
-40
-20
0
20
40
60
80
100
1300-1340 1340-1450 1450-1650 1650-1750 1750-1800 1800-1860
Table 9
Real wage GDP/capita Labour share Relative prices

5. Aggregate
-60.0
-40.0
-20.0
0.0
20.0
40.0
60.0
80.0
100.0
Comparative economics England & Wales
Real wage GDP/capita Labour share
Relative prices Net worth top 5% NWT5 1875 level -100.0
-50.0
0.0
50.0
100.0
150.0
200.0
250.0
300.0
350.0
1300 1340 1450 1650 1750 1800 1875 1975 2025
Aggregate
1300-
1340
1340-
1450
1450-
1650
1650-
1750
1750-
1800
1800-
1860 1875 1973
Table 9 Real wage 5.5 75.0 -50.4 15.2 -3.6 59.7
GDP/capita 2.8 30.6 4.2 48.3 19.6 46.7
Labour share -5.1 15.3 -8.5 -1.7 -0.2 12.1
Relative prices 4.4 -6.4 8.0 -0.7 9.2 1.6
Table 5 Net worth top 5% 84.5 84.9 85.3 84.0 49.5
NWT5 1875 level 76.2 78.8 81.5 84.0 49.2
1300 1340 1450 1650 1750 1800 1875 1975
Aggregate 7.6 114.5 -46.7 221.8 188.7 286.9 168.0 98.7
• Data taken as-is from sources
• Aggregated as indicator of
combined economic wealth
• Dotted trend-line below: 2nd
order polynomial extrapolated
1 period (Microsoft Excel)
Note: red dips Black & Bubonic Plagues, green dip agriculture depression