Consumer Behavior in the Nineteenth Century and Ontario Workers, 1885–1889

Abstract

Cross-section data on expenditure patterns and time-series data on nominal national income and the characteristics of the consuming population are combined to yield aggregate expenditure and household budget share estimates for Canadians from 1870 to 1914. Recently developed econometric techniques are used to produce the new time series. Unlike older estimates that give relatively stable budget shares, the new series break at 1900. This finding has significant implications for the debate over Canadian real income changes in the period, a debate prolonged by problems of converting nominal into real income and of estimating real consumption directly.