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The Poor and the Poorest, fifty years on: Evidence from British Household Expenditure Surveys of the 1950s and 1960s

Author

Listed:
  • Ian Gazeley

    (Department of History, University of Sussex)

  • Hector Gutierrez Rufrancos

    (Department of Economics, University of Sussex)

  • Andrew Newell

    (Department of Economics, University of Sussex and IZA, Bonn)

  • Kevin Reynolds

    (Department of History, University of Sussex)

  • Rebecca Searle

    (Department of History, University of Sussex)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Ian Gazeley & Hector Gutierrez Rufrancos & Andrew Newell & Kevin Reynolds & Rebecca Searle, 2016. "The Poor and the Poorest, fifty years on: Evidence from British Household Expenditure Surveys of the 1950s and 1960s," Working Paper Series 09316, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
  • Handle: RePEc:sus:susewp:09316
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    File URL: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/economics/documents/wps-93-2016.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alissa Goodman & Steven Webb, 1995. "The distribution of UK household expenditure, 1979-92," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 16(3), pages 55-80, August.
    2. Peter Scott, 2008. "Did owner‐occupation lead to smaller families for interwar working‐class households?1," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 61(1), pages 99-124, February.
    3. Bruce D. Meyer & James X. Sullivan, 2012. "Identifying the Disadvantaged: Official Poverty, Consumption Poverty, and the New Supplemental Poverty Measure," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 26(3), pages 111-136, Summer.
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    Cited by:

    1. Gazeley, Ian & Newell, Andrew T. & Reynolds, Kevin & Rufrancos, Hector Gutierrez, 2017. "What Really Happened to British Inequality in the Early 20th Century? Evidence from National Household Expenditure Surveys 1890–1961," IZA Discussion Papers 11071, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    poverty; inequality; 1950s; Britain;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N14 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Europe: 1913-
    • N34 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: 1913-
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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