Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Brian A'Hearn
Author-Workplace-Name: Pembroke College, University of Oxford
Author-Name: Nicola Amendola
Author-Workplace-Name: Dept. of Economics and Finance, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”
Author-Name: Giovanni Vecchi

Author-Workplace-Name: Dept. of Economics and Finance, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”
Author-Email: giovanni.vecchi@uniroma2.it. 
Title: On Historical Household Budgets
Abstract: The paper argues that household budgets are the best starting point for investigating a number 
of big questions related to the evolution of the living standards during the last two-three centuries. 
If one knows where to look, historical family budgets are more abundant than might be suspected. And 
statistical techniques have been developed to handle the associated problems of small, incomplete, and 
unrepresentative samples. We introduce the Historical Household Budgets (HHB) Project, aimed at gathering 
data and sources, but also at creating an informational infrastructure that provides i) reliable storage 
and easy access to historical family budget data, along with ii) tools to configure the data as it is 
entered so as to harmonise it with present-day surveys.
Classification-JEL: N30, I31, I32, C81, C83, D60, D63, O12, O15
Keywords: household budgets; household budget surveys; living standards; inequality;
poverty; survey; globalization; purchasing power parities; grouped data; poststratification.
Length: 44 pages
Creation-Date: 2016-05-10
Number: _144
File-URL: http://www.economics.ox.ac.uk/materials/papers/14543/144juneahearn.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
Handle: RePEc:nuf:esohwp:_144