Annual Review of Economics · 2020 · [{"name": "Robert C. Allen", "affiliation": ["New York University Abu Dhabi"]}]
中文摘要
世界银行的估计显示，1980 年亚洲和非洲的绝对贫困人口占总人口的 50%–60%，而发达国家这一比例微乎其微。本综述考察了亚洲是否一直如此贫困，以及当今富裕国家的贫困历史。文中回顾了贫困测度方法，并论证基本需求法是解决历史贫困测度问题的最佳途径。该方法与历史实际工资测度方面的最新进展相关联。本文给出了 1290 年至 1867 年间英格兰的贫困率估计，以及前工业化时期印度的贫困率估计。中世纪晚期，约四分之一的英格兰人口处于极端贫困状态，到 1688 年这一比例已降至 10% 以下。19 世纪初，约四分之一的北印度人口生活在极端贫困之中，而 1600 年这一比例可能更低。1980 年印度极高的贫困率是殖民时代发展的结果。
Abstract
World Bank estimates put absolute poverty in Asia and Africa at 50–60% of the population in 1980 and at negligible levels in the developed world. This review investigates whether Asia was always so poor, as well as the history of poverty in today's rich countries. Poverty measurement methodologies are reviewed, and it is argued that a basic needs approach is the best way to tackle poverty measurement in the past. This approach is related to recent advances in the measurement of historical real wages. Estimates of poverty rates in England between 1290 and 1867 are presented, as are estimates for preindustrial India. About one-quarter of the English population was in extreme poverty in the late Middle Ages, and the proportion had fallen below 10% by 1688. About one-quarter of the people in northern India lived in extreme poverty in the early nineteenth century, and the proportion was likely lower in 1600. The very high poverty rates in India in 1980 were a development of the colonial era.