1. INTRODUCTION
The profound changes in the Buenos Aires region brought about by the establishment of the Río de la Plata viceroyalty (1776) have already been extensively studied (Halperin Donghi Reference Halperin Donghi1972; Santilli Reference Santilli2013; Gelman and Moraes Reference Gelman, Moraes, Gelman, Llopis and Marichal2015). These changes prompted rapid economic growth, accompanied by an increase in population due to an inflow of migrants coming from the inland regions of the viceroyalty. The new status of the city, by then the capital of the new jurisdiction within the Spanish Empire, brought an increase in both population and bureaucracy which in turn pushed up the demand for food and other goods, thus boosting the rural population in the hinterland involved in production oriented to meeting this demand. The increase in the agricultural tithe provided solid evidence of this situation (Garavaglia Reference Garavaglia1987). Leather exports passing through the Buenos Aires port—produced in the litoral de los ríos—also reflected the consolidation of the city and its port within the Spanish Empire (Moutoukias Reference Moutoukias1995; Rosal and Schmit Reference Rosal and Schmit1999; Newland and Ortiz Reference Newland and Ortiz2001)Footnote 1.
In later years, after the loss of Potosí because of the independence war, and its valuable monetary income—called «situado»—, production in the Buenos Aires hinterland shifted to leather exports, salted meat and other livestock products, with cattle-raising becoming the main economic activity. Nevertheless, grain, fruit and vegetables continued to be grown to supply city dwellers. The production of leather, however, the main export product at the time, generated a supply of meat which was far beyond the requirements of both the saladeros (meat-salting factories) and the domestic market. This excess supply must surely have affected the city dwellers' basket of consumption. Our research for 1835 shows that meat accounted for 64 per cent of caloric intake, when production oriented to the export of leather was the main component of the local economy—a trend that peaked the following decade (Gelman and Santilli Reference Gelman and Santilli2018, p. 100). However, if this large share of meat was due to an unprecedented excess supply of meat driven by leather production, we must trace changes in the consumer basket from the late 18th century, when economic growth in Buenos Aires started.
The preponderance of meat consumption in Buenos Aires, accompanied by not insignificant consumption levels of wheat bread, conform the image of the relatively high standard of living, supported firmly in the economic growth following 1820 (Newland and Poulson Reference Newland and Poulson1998; Arroyo Abad et al. Reference Arroyo Abad, Davies and Van Zanden2011).
The aim of this survey is to trace changes in consumption by analysing item variations in the consumer basket of the city of Buenos Aires. This approach is consistent with the methodology used to research the standard of living of the inhabitants of a certain region. Based on Robert Allen's approach (Reference Allen2001, Reference Allen2013)—which has been discussed in various forums (Humphries Reference Humphries2011; Dobado-Gonzalez Reference Dobado-Gonzalez2015; López Losa and Piquero Zarauz Reference López Losa and Piquero Zarauz2016; Gelman and Santilli Reference Gelman and Santilli2018), this tool has been improved to provide a thoroughgoing view of our field of research. Allen's approach provides a benchmark enabling researchers to compare both mankind's consumption and urban living standards over timeFootnote 2. It has become the prevailing study in this field of research, using necessary adjustments concerning time and place. In our case, the differences required for its smooth application in Buenos Aires, and the necessary adjustments so that the conformation of the basket does not serve only to compare with that built for other cities (Santilli and Gelman Reference Santilli and Gelman2014, Reference Santilli and Gelman2016; Gelman and Santilli Reference Gelman and Santilli2016) were specified some years ago. For example, the amount of items for each family and the ratio between them and wage and non-wage income of households must be adjusted. The number of calories needed for survival according to work and location, and salary levels as an indicator of households' consumption capability must also be adjusted accordingly. It is also necessary to check whether the salary used to evaluate the consumption capacity of the family, according to the mainstream that of a mason, is representative of the universe under studyFootnote 3.
We built a basket for 1835 (Gelman and Santilli Reference Gelman and Santilli2018) consistent with the approach mentioned aboveFootnote 4. In this study, I intend to compare that milestone with the late colonial period and the first half of the 19th century, prior to that year. We understand that the 1835 basket cannot be a valid benchmark for living standards in the late colonial period and the first half of the 19th century, considering the profound political, economic and social changes experienced by urban life in the intervening period. I have reasons to suppose that the standard consumer basket might have experienced relevant modifications. The increase in the supply of meat resulting from the growth of exports of leather has already been mentioned. And the incorporation of new products as a result of more open trading, and the need to import products that were produced within the territory of the viceroyalty, such as yerba, etc. may have changed the basket. Although the task of putting together accurate consumer baskets and calculating the welfare ratio (WR) for the late colonial period and the first half of the 19th century is taken from (Gelman and Santilli Reference Gelman and Santilli2018), the current work, its hypothesis and findings are exclusively my responsibility.
The data for 1835 and 1849 were prepared from the accounts of the Women's Hospital, evaluating three different years, 1822, 1835 and 1849, with the aim of using only one of these records to build a basket that we considered representative of the entire period 1822-1849. We made it clear, however, on that occasion that the work should be continued with the elaboration of other baskets with similar sources that could cover the entire first half of the 19th century. With that aim in mind, I have researched similar sources enabling us to reconstruct consumption baskets from 1796 onwards, as described belowFootnote 5.
2. SOURCES
For 1796 and 1806, the «libros de procura»—accounting records—from the Convent of San Pedro Telmo, Order of Preachers, volume 5, 1791-1797 and volume 6, 1797-1807 were used. For 1818 and 1819, I resorted to the «libro de gastos, perteneciente al Hospital de la Residencia, que da principio en 1° de enero de 1817» (spending records, belonging to the Hospital of the Residence, beginning on 1 January 1817) held in the Archivo General de la Nación (General Archive of the Nation AGN), Room III 35-5-10. For 1835, we have used documents corresponding to the Women's Hospital to be found in AGN Room III 16-9-3, which we had previously studied (Gelman and Santilli Reference Gelman and Santilli2018)Footnote 6.
The issue of the representativeness of the consumption of these establishments in relation to that of the general population can be explored from two angles. The first is to see whether the general population used the same products for food, energy, heating, lighting and clothing as those consumed at the aforementioned institutions. The second aspect concerns the prices paid for the goods; were they the same for the institutions and the general population? Is it possible that institutions had preferential rates? We will attempt to investigate these questions.
Firstly, according to every contemporary testimony (Salas Reference Salas1982), the institutions attended the same physical open markets, coinciding with most of the population, so they purchased goods which were also available to the public in general. In many instances, produce was sold by the farmers themselves (Arcondo Reference Arcondo2002; Salvatore Reference Salvatore2018). However, many products could also be found in the ‹pulperías› (grocery stores) and the inventories of such stores indicate a wide diversity of products; in many cases the quantities recorded provide testimony of popularity (Wibaux Reference Wibaux2004, Reference Wibaux, Mallo and Moreyra2008).
That said, did the general population buy the same products as the institutions? Archaeological research has demonstrated that the basic goods consumed were the same for the general population, at least as far as can be reconstructed by archaeology. An archaeological dig from a construction project during the mid-19th century showed that animal remains consumed by workers were 46 per cent from bovine, 22 per cent from ovine, 13.5 per cent from chicken and minor percentages from other poultry and pork (Silveira Reference Silveira2005, p. 111). It can be said that this finding would form a bare bone basket (BBB), whereas the consumption information rebuilt with our sources forms a respectable basket (RB). Taking into account the income level and purchasing power of most of the inhabitants of Buenos Aires—which will be analysed later—it can be assumed that they could gain access to a RB. Quoted text from Silveira also provides qualitative testimonies regarding the consumption patterns of wealthier sections of the population, which were, of course, higher in quality than the RB (Reference Silveira2005, p. 100). Other research mentions similar consumption dataFootnote 7.
Regarding prices, the real prices paid for products have been used. It can be surmised that, given the nature and quantity of goods purchased by these institutions, they were able to obtain special rates. I have compared the prices paid with series elaborated in previous approaches (Gelman and Santilli Reference Gelman, Santilli, Santilli, Fradkin and Gelman2014b) and series elaborated by other researchers, such as Barba (Reference Barba1999), Guzmán and Schmit (Reference Guzmán and Schmit2019) and Schmit (Reference Schmit2019), although it is only possible to compare trends because these authors used wholesale prices. From this comparison, it follows that the prices paid by the aforementioned institutions are similar to those paid by the population as a whole.
Therefore, it is clear that the sources reflect basic food and clothing accurately, as well as the availability of goods to all social and economic levels of the population. This means that, these institutions purchased products in the same places as the general public and also paid similar prices for them.
The sources contain a detailed record of the daily purchases made by each establishment, ranging from food to firewood, from beverages to textiles, as well as salaries and other payments made to the staff and other workers. The records inform about the amount of goods purchased and the corresponding payment, expressed in reales for both 1796 and 1806 and in pesos fuertes of 8 reales for 1818 and 1819Footnote 8. Many entries only record the amount paid, «for 2 reales worth of milk», «for a peso worth of bread that the baker did not bring», etc. In other cases, the records contain measures which are unfamiliar to us and cannot be converted into well-known values; this has sparked other studies based on historical data in an effort to convert unknown measures to standard parameters. «For two vejigas [bladders] of fat», «for a carretada [cartful] of firewood», «a sarta [string] of silverside fish», etc. Although this might lead to some distortions in the baskets under study, these items did not represent a significant expenditure in the accounting records of each establishment. I have taken quantities and unit prices from the same source. Salaries of all categories or workers and the whole period were taken from our previous work (Reference Gelman and Santilli2014a).
Everything that was acquired according to the specificity of each establishment (medicines, paper, articles related to religiosity, etc.) was not considered in the forecast. Also, when I analyse each processed basket, I include reservations about certain consumptions that could be specific, such as fish for the convent or chickens for the hospital as we will see, but because of their exiguous consumption, they did not acquire general relevanceFootnote 9. There is not a notable difference between the consumption of priests, nurses and patients. So far, no particular sources have been found to calculate baskets of consumption, such as private diaries or accounting notes for private establishments, and similar sources have been used by other works on prices, wages and living conditions (Larrain Melo Reference Larrain Melo1980; Johnson Reference Johnson1990; Barba Reference Barba1999; Cuesta Reference Cuesta2009; Arroyo Abad Reference Arroyo Abad2013b; Gelman and Santilli Reference Gelman, Santilli, Santilli, Fradkin and Gelman2014b; Guzmán Reference Guzmán2018).
3. METHODOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENTS
Another complication to be dealt with regarding the consumer basket concerned the amount of people who were fed in each convent or hospital. I do not have a record of individuals who lived there and were provided with food, light, soap and/or clothing. This has been a recurrent problem, one that arose in our previous works (2016a, 2018) and those of other researchers. In this work, I have used the same approach; the total caloric intake is calculated by multiplying the quantities of goods by their caloric value and verifying the share of each item in the yearly total calories provided. These percentages are then applied to the minimum consumption of 1,941 daily calories per individual (Allen Reference Allen2001) in general use currently.
Based on this approach, I consequently distinguish between two types of baskets. Firstly, a basket rebuilt from the verified consumption per person, that is from knowing the total goods procured and the number of people who consumed them, which I call the Real BasketFootnote 10. Secondly, an Estimated Basket, calculating consumption from percentages of the total estimated and minimum levels of consumption, as described in the previous paragraph.
Another benchmark used by researchers worldwide is the so-called Bare Bone Basket (BBB)—a subsistence basket—build with a minimum of 1,941 calories made up of basic staples for any location in the world. Furthermore, a RB with the same minimum calories but allowing for a different combination of items is also used (Allen et al. Reference Allen, Bassino, Ma, Moll-Murata and Van Zanden2011; Allen Reference Allen2013). I have selected the RB approach, incorporating all the items, since my objective is to trace continuities and changes in basket composition as a whole between the late 18th century and the first half of the 19th centuryFootnote 11. Another item to analyse is how townspeople dealt with rising prices and products that were difficult to acquire—how and when they resorted to a minimum basket of subsistence (BBB). Even though this is not the main issue under study here, some relevant remarks will be included.
Allen revised his approach in response to criticism, increasing the total caloric intake to 2,100 daily calories per capita (Allen Reference Allen2013). No matter how appropriate this decision was, previous calculations made by Allen and others who relied on his method have not been revised. Therefore, the benchmark figure of 1,941 daily calories will be used for making comparisons through time. Interestingly, when the total amount is modified to trace changes in basket costs (a point which Allen himself overlooks), there is a 5 per cent variation between the basket of 1,941 calories and that of 2,100 calories, the same as found by Allen.
Apart from resorting to caloric percentages in order to estimate consumption, and given the shortcomings already mentioned (lack of data on consumers of listed items), a similar method has been applied to integrate the cost of soap, lighting and heating. Purchases of these items have been calculated as a percentage of total food expenditure and the resulting amount has been applied to the cost of the food basket. In any case, it was necessary to make some adjustments and some reasonable assumptions as a result of the lack of data. I will mention this issue when dealing with the adjusted basket.
When it comes to clothing expenditure, the same method used in our previous work (2018) has been applied. In that study, Allen's benchmark of a 5-m-long piece of the most ordinary fabric available, per person on a yearly basis, was used for an RB. In order to include it in the basket, I divided that value by 365 days. Linen turned out to be the most common fabric, and the price of a vara [Spanish unit measure] was calculated from the sources themselves.
Unfortunately, there are no available data on the cost of rent in Buenos Aires, apart from the figures provided by Lyman Johnson for the 1770-1812 period (Reference Johnson1990, p. 152), for rental properties in the Cabildo of Buenos Aires. According to these data, in 1796 the cost of housing would take 60 per cent of a mason's salary—an amount Johnson himself deems unaffordable for urban workers. Hence, I have applied Allen's method, which estimates that the cost of rent was equal to 5 per cent of food expenditures for an individual basket and thus would lead to 15 per cent, considering family make-up in those days.
On this issue, the nuclear family consisting of four members—two parents and two children—has been the subject of some debate (Humphries Reference Humphries2011), especially the assumption that women and children's lower consumption should be regarded as representing three consumer baskets instead of four. According to the 1810 census, the number of children living with their parents was between 1.3 and 1.8 in two surveyed quarters of Buenos Aires. In 1827, the figures ranged between 1.2 and 1.5. However, the total per household was higher, around 6, because family and non-family members and/or slaves lived together under the same roof (Dmitruk Reference Dmitruk2011, pp. 97-101)Footnote 12. It is reasonable to assume that this figure includes other adults who also contributed to the household's income. However, despite this discrepancy that calls for a more detailed study of family structure in early 19th-century Buenos Aires, I have applied the two-children-per-family benchmark, in order to enable a comparative analysis with other baskets worldwide.
In the next section I will analyse the composition of the baskets we have surveyed.
4. THE 1796 AND 1806 BASKETS
As noted in the sources, our baskets have been constructed using the accounting books of a convent; that is to say that priests, seminarians, employees, workers and officials consumed the goods purchased by the institution. Not all the bread that was consumed has been included in the 1796/1806 records because, according to Alberto Salas (Reference Salas1982), bread was baked and delivered from the religious order's farms. The convent only bought bread when regular supplies ran short, «because the Baker did not bring enough»—they would buy one peso worth of bread. To bridge that gap, I have estimated the ratio between bread and meat for 1835 in calories, with bread accounting for 35.7 per cent of meat's caloric share. By 1818, the ratio increased to 48.7 per cent. The reason for this might lie in the steady increase in the price of bread as a result of the shift to ounces to measure weightFootnote 13. Conversely, meat tended to be cheaper as the surplus offer brought about by leather exports continued to grow. I have adopted the 1818 ratio as a benchmark, because the price of wheat increased much more significantly in the 1830s, and thus bread consumption may have dropped, being replaced by a greater intake of meat, due to the abovementioned beef surplus brought about by increased leather exports (Gelman and Santilli Reference Gelman and Santilli2014a, Reference Gelman, Santilli, Santilli, Fradkin and Gelman2014b). Table 1 shows the item analysis for both 1796 and 1806.
TABLE 1 RBs FOR 1796 AND 1806
Source: «Libros de procura»—accounting records—of the Convent of San Pedro Telmo, Order of Preachers, volume 5, 1791-1797 and volume 6, 1797-1807.
As we can see, both meat and bread rank high in terms of calories, 71 per cent in 1796 and 78 per cent in 1806Footnote 14. In addition, if bread's caloric share was half that of meat, the opposite was the case when it came to cost, since bread was twice as expensive as meat in 1796 and 50 per cent more expensive in 1806. As for the increased share of meat in the 1806 basket, this may be connected with the fall in its price in the first decade of the century; the price of a cow went from 11 reales in 1796 to 7 reales by 1806 (Garavaglia Reference Garavaglia1995, p. 102)Footnote 15.
The value of oil and fat in the 1796 basket may well have been overestimated; less than 1 per cent share of calories would cost almost 7 per cent of the total basketFootnote 16. More reasonable is that of 1806, whose incidence on the cost is 1.3 per cent.
Surprisingly, we have come across an item that was not present in previous studies: fish. With a 4 per cent share in 1796, it increased to almost 10 per cent in 1806, perhaps pointing to a change in diet as fish consumption eventually disappeared in the 1820s. In the late 18th century and early 19th century, a large quantity of fish was consumed in Buenos Aires, but it decreased sharply in the 1830sFootnote 17. It is also worth noticing that fish cost as much as beef (Salas Reference Salas1982). It is likely that the consumption of fish is related to the type of source; convents had religious restrictions on the consumption of meat on certain days of the week and at specific times of the year. An increased caloric share for bacon and sausages around 1806 can also be observed—a rise that nonetheless did not lead to higher prices.
Even more surprising is the increased cost of the total basket in pesos; food experienced a 75 per cent rise over 10 years, whereas total cost rose as much as 80 per cent. Considering that the benchmark wage used to calculate the WR—masons' wages—remained unchanged throughout this period (Johnson Reference Johnson1990, p. 155), I can conclude that there was a decline in real wages. Johnson also claims that there was a significant increase in the price index that he reconstructed for the years 1778-1810. However, it will be seen that this significant fall of the WR did not entail outright destitution for the local population.
If the benchmark figure for calories were to be increased to 2,100, as Robert Allen (Reference Allen2013) has recently argued, total basket cost for 1796 would be 6 per cent higher than if a 1,941-calorie benchmark was used, whereas the 1806 basket cost would be 7 per cent higher. Therefore, the increase is not so significant, as Allen himself shows.
5. THE 1818 AND 1819 BASKETS
In this case, I have resorted to the records of the Hospital de la Residencia, a different source from the one above, with patients and staff as the main consumers of goods. As will be seen, however, the differences do not go beyond the specific consumption patterns of a hospital. In addition, in this case I am using a source similar to the one we used for 1835 and 1849 (Gelman and Santilli Reference Gelman and Santilli2018). Care was taken to separate the main expenditures of hospital activities, such as medication and special clothing, from those resulting from food consumption and other goods in the basket.
Two separate yearly baskets have been reconstructed because the price of cattle rose steadily in the second decade of the 19th century in Buenos Aires, and we should bear in mind that beef was a food staple at this time. According to Garavaglia, the price of a cow increased from 11 reales in 1810 to 27.25 reales in 1818, reaching as much as 34.65 reales in 1819 (Reference Garavaglia1995, p. 102)Footnote 18. This price hike was fuelled by the opening of the saladeros, which began to contend for urban consumers (Garavaglia Reference Garavaglia1994)Footnote 19. In this case, it should be borne in mind that these baskets survey a hospital's consumption, that is that of sick people and staff, and this might introduce some discrepancies with the convent's consumption indicators, such as an increase in the consumption of poultry and a decrease in the purchase of fish (see Table 2).
TABLE 2 RBs FOR 1818 AND 1819
Source: Archivo General de la Nación (AGN), Room III 35-5-10.
Some continuities and differences can be observed at first glance. Firstly, beef remains at the top of the ranking despite its price hike, and while 1819 shows reduced intake, spending on beef rose noticeably. Secondly, bread consumption increased slightly, but there are no major differences in costs than was estimated years before. Thirdly, fish consumption has almost disappeared. This sharp decline might be seen as a bias resulting from the source consulted in 1796 and 1806; due to religious regulations, convent staff and priests refrain from eating meat more often during the year—a possibility we cannot rule out completely. Finally, there is a rise in the consumption of poultry, which ranked third after beef and bread, perhaps replacing fish as an item of daily consumptionFootnote 20. In any case, whether it was poultry or fish, these new indicators do not alter basket structure significantly, and the same goes for legumes, rice, milk and eggs.
There was also a significant increase in spending on lighting and fuel, which rose from 16 to 25 per cent of the cost of food. This could also be another bias caused by the source itself. Perhaps the seminarians in the convent were made to endure cold winters, or just needed less light. A more likely explanation is that the sick needed more heating. This percentage is at odds with Allen's estimations, 12.8 per cent (2001), or those made by Arroyo Abad et al. (Reference Arroyo Abad, Davies and Van Zanden2011) for Argentina, 13.2 per cent. Still, it is a high share, since it stood at 16 per cent in 1796 and 17 per cent in 1806. A new calculation based on these figures will be made when the total basket has been studied. The rest of the items appear to be within reasonable benchmarks.
Regarding total basket cost, there is almost no difference between 1818 and 1819 (15.10 and 15.25, respectively). However, these amounts were 90 per cent higher than those of the 1806 basket, which in turn was 80 per cent higher than the 1796 basket. We have pointed to a steady increase in prices in the first decade following the May 1810 Revolution (Gelman and Santilli Reference Gelman, Santilli, Santilli, Fradkin and Gelman2014b), a tendency that simply worsened with the enforcement of peso non-convertibility in 1825Footnote 21. All things considered, the price hike of basic food staples is a well-established fact. Furthermore, we must bear in mind that the prices surveyed are from the same source of 1818 and 1819, that is those actually paid by the institutions themselves, and therefore should be considered valid and reliable indicators.
When reexamining the 1796 and 1806 baskets with the upgraded 2,100-calorie benchmark for both 1818 and 1819, I observed a similar difference; basket costs only experienced an 8 per cent rise. The impact this has on the WR will be seen later.
6. THE 1835 AND 1849 BASKET
Firstly, it should be clarified that the 1849 basket is a repetition of the quantities consumed in 1835, but valued with the prices of 1849 obtained from the same hospital source, as explained in our previous work (Gelman and Santilli Reference Gelman and Santilli2018).
In order to compare with the figures of 1796, 1806, 1818 and 1819, some modifications were required; the first and most important was to convert the prices expressed in devalued pesos papel to pesos fuertes. In 1835 the peso fuerte was equivalent to 6.98 pesos papel; in 1849 it reached 17.50 for each peso fuerte (see Table 3).
The effect of currency devaluation is highly representative; the cost of the basket rose from $15 in 1819 to $43 in 1835 and to $78 in 1849, multiplied by more than 5 in 30 years. Its real value, however, fell to $6.16 and $4.45 for both years respectively. In short, it should be highlighted that the low cost of the basket brings it closer to 18th-century standards and away from those of the 19th century. We will now see how wages fit into this picture.
Firstly, however, we will check for significant changes in the composition of the baskets.
As already noted, the sources are diverse with the first two from a convent and the others from two hospitals. Care should, of course, be taken with the comparison, but it can be estimated, since the last four points of evaluation of the 19th century, 1818, 1819, 1835 and 1849 were built with the same type of sources, that the reserves decrease. Also there is no reason to assume that the food consumed in the boarding schools of the convent was different from that given to hospital patients, beyond certain specificities. It has also been shown that popular consumption did not differ essentially from that of the mentioned institutions. In addition, the objective of this work is to find trends in the evolution of the basket of the first half of the long 19th century.
Figure 1 shows the proportion of calories of the basket for the whole period under study.
At first glance and as already noted, we see the high proportion of beef consumption in Buenos Aires, which remained unchanged throughout this period. It fluctuates around 1,000 calories per day, that is 50 per cent of the total RB. A drop in consumption can be noticed; this was brought about by the 1818-1819 price hikes, due to the above-mentioned increases in cattle prices, which was especially sharp in 1819, with consumers shifting to bread and poultry in response. It is worth noting the sustained upward trend in beef consumption, except for 1819. At the same time, 1835—and 1849—saw a greater increase in meat consumption, with a corresponding fall in bread, itself the result of the dramatic fluctuations in wheat prices, which began in the 1830s and continued into the next decade (Gorostegui de Torres Reference Gorostegui De Torres1962; Gelman and Santilli Reference Gelman, Santilli, Santilli, Fradkin and Gelman2014b). This picture of the consumption basket in the first half of the 19th century confirms several claims about how basic food staples such as meat or bread are replaced by cheaper food whenever their price increased dramatically. Further research is required to confirm whether this trend continued during the second half of the century. Therefore, in my opinion, the average column in Figure 1 can be taken as an RB valid for the entire period 1796-1849. Therefore, we have a fairly eloquent and complete picture of consumer habits in Buenos Aires in those 50 yearsFootnote 22.
Finally, before moving on to the WR, let us take a comprehensive look at the total basket including food and other items (Figure 2).
As we see, food accounts for more than two-thirds of basket cost, whereas lighting and fuel accounts for a significant 16 per cent. When it becomes possible to construct a real basket, we will be able to explore how the people of Buenos Aires spent their income and, therefore, to see whether Engel's law is confirmed in Buenos Aires.
We have seen in Tables 1, 2 and 3 that basket costs were quite different, with an upward trend until 1819. Let us now look at how these costs impinged on workers' income, considering that there were significant variations in wages in the mentioned period.
7. REAL WAGES BETWEEN 1796 AND 1849
A mason's wage is the standard benchmark used worldwide. If this standard allows international comparisons, it is also true that its validity could be affected as a result of overgeneralisation. Factors such as the weight of construction, the main activity in the area being studied, and how representative these workers are regarding the population as a whole are all relevant. With all these reservations in mind, I will now examine the table corresponding to the WR built with these data (Table 4)Footnote 23.
TABLE 4 BUENOS AIRES' WR 1796-1849 (WITH REFERENCE TO A MASON'S DAILY WAGE)
In spite of the increased price of basic staples, the evidence seems to prove that inflation did not seriously cut into real wages, beyond the drop they experienced between 1796 and 1806 and confirmed by Lyman Johnson (Reference Johnson1990) and other researchers. This means that masons' wages rose in line with prices between 1806 and 1835, no matter how dramatic price increases may have been. Thus, it seems that, when measured against theoretical consumption, living standards in Buenos Aires were between 20 and 40 per cent above a minimum basket (BBB) and included several items consistent with a respectable level. The fall which can be observed in 1835 does not entail a reduction to subsistence levels, since this basket not only stands 20 per cent above such a level but, as previously mentioned, it is a respectable basket.
There is a surprising surge in 1849, an increase I have corroborated simply by repeating the amounts of the 1835 basket with the prices and wages of 1849. This should be checked when reliable sources for the reconstruction of the 1849 basket with consumption indicators for that year, or nearby years are available. For now, I will repeat a basket composition that we have considered valid for all the reasons previously stated in this article and other works published (Gelman and Santilli Reference Gelman and Santilli2018). I will look now at the differences with the 1835 basketFootnote 24.
The evolution of prices between 1835 and 1849 indicates that, while the nominal prices of many products increased, there was in fact a decrease in constant values, with some prices falling below 1835 levels. The only exceptions were sugar, which rose 12 per cent in constant currency, and noodles, which increased 25 per cent. Sugar was imported, so its price varied in line with the value of the peso papel against the pound. The increase in the price of noodles is without a doubt a reflection of the volatility of the price of wheat, which is not reflected in the price of bread, due to the well-known changes in the system of weights used in Buenos Aires.
Masons' wages increased steadily throughout the 1840s, going from 3.75 pesos in 1840 to 5 pesos in 1841, reaching 15 pesos in 1843 and eventually stabilising at 10 pesos in 1847 (all values in currency), according to our sources.
As stated in previous works (Santilli and Gelman Reference Santilli and Gelman2016; Gelman and Santilli Reference Gelman and Santilli2018), the indicators from 1849 are—at least in part—the reason behind the inflow of immigrants coming from Europe, which began in the mid-19th century, as well as the constant inflow of migrants from other provinces. It should be noted, in passing, that the scale and scope of immigration demands further and more in-depth research. Let us now look at other non-rural wages. Only a few examples are available, but they will allow a comparison with masons' income. When calculating daily wages, I estimate that there were 250 working days in a year (Table 5).
TABLE 5 URBAN WAGES (IN PESOS FUERTES)
1 The wages of carpenters and ranch managers for 1849 are in 1850s values.
Sources: 1796-1806 (Johnson Reference Johnson1990); 1819-1835-1849 (Gelman and Santilli Reference Gelman and Santilli2014a); 1850 physicians and clerical workers (central administration), all years (Barba Reference Barba1999).
If we look at carpenters' wages, we can see that real wages fell between 1796 and 1806. However, other wages do not seem to have suffered the same fate. It may seem obvious that gunsmiths' pay should rise during the 1806-1807 English invasions of Buenos Aires, along with urban labourers forced to join the militia—heralding future growth, as Lyman Johnson has shown (Reference Johnson1990, p. 155). On the other hand, we observe a decline in sailors' wages. Common soldiers earned less than the minimum subsistence level, but we must consider the rations assigned to them, which included meat, some vicios [tobacco and yerba] and possibly some extra money (although it is not possible to measure such items at the moment). Other public workers may have enjoyed similar treatment although teachers did not receive any rations and had to manage with low wages. Captains also experienced a reduction in their salaries between 1819 and 1849—a tendency already noted (Gelman and Santilli Reference Gelman, Santilli, Santilli, Fradkin and Gelman2014b). However, when it comes to the WR of carpenters—an activity linked to construction—such as masons, we observe a significant improvement in their real wages, which leads us to the question: does this confirm the previously observed trend? Again, we must examine the 1849 basket thoroughly in order to confirm this. The fact remains that masons and carpenters were the only urban workers whose wages increased.
Finally, I consider rural wages. Unlike their urban counterparts, rural workers enjoyed some benefits such as partly free food; this would certainly include meat, and a piece of land where they could build their own ranchos [humble cottages] and also grow some vegetablesFootnote 25. Besides, this includes both monthly labourers who, no matter how unstable their jobs were, also received meat and other goods, and day labourers, who were hired for specific tasks on a temporary basis (skilled workers such as tamers, shearers, harvesters, who also did specific jobs such as yerra [cattle branding], etc.). As a result, payment in kind was made only on working days. For this reason two separate calculations were made: with and without meat and housing (Table 6).
TABLE 6 BUENOS AIRES RURAL WR 1796-1849
Source: Basket, Tables 1, 2 and 3; wages (Gelman and Santilli Reference Gelman and Santilli2014a).
As can be seen, those labourers receiving a monthly payment, despite free access to beef and housing, were below the subsistence level; their WR fell steadily between 1796 and 1819. By 1835 there are signs of recovery, perhaps fuelled by an economic activity which was now predominantly geared to rural production. In 1849, their purchasing power had doubled.
It should be taken into consideration that workers began their working life when they were single, generally migrants from other regions of the future Argentina, and, therefore, the resulting proportion might not have been as low as it seems, since they only had to support themselves. According to contemporary censuses, most rural workers had not yet formed a family (Contente Reference Contente, Fradkin, Canedo and Mateo1999; Canedo Reference Canedo2000; Mateo Reference Mateo2001; GIHRR, Reference Gihrr, Fradkin and Garavaglia2004; Santilli Reference Santilli2008; Salvatore Reference Salvatore2018).
By contrast, the picture changes when daily paid labourers are included. Unfortunately, there are no data available for the first 2 years, but it is clear that from 1818 onwards their purchasing power practically doubled, reaching a peak in 1849 when it was almost eight times higher than the cost of the basket. It can, however, be reasoned with a certain amount of arbitrariness, that they did not always receive meat and housing, so I also considered the WR if meat and housing had to be purchased. In both cases, the ratio remains very positive for rural workers. It is also likely that my estimation of a total 250 yearly working days is slightly exaggerated. However, if a 125-day benchmark was used, the resulting ratios would still be higher: 1.10 in 1818, 0.85 in 1835 and 3.09 in 1849.
Let us now look at Figure 3 showing long-term trends in the WR.
The trend is clearly the same for the wages of rural workers, masons and carpenters. In contrast, the worsening of soldiers' payment is also evident. This graph shows that rural production, with its constant demand for labour, became the powerhouse of the economy, with surplus income, in turn, being channelled into construction in the city of Buenos Aires—a well-established fact for this historical period.
8. BUENOS AIRES COMPARED WITH OTHER CITIES
When compared with its European and American counterparts, Buenos Aires ranks well in terms of living standards (Table 7).
TABLE 7 RANKING OF CITIES' WR (RB)
Source: Buenos Aires, Table 4. For other cities (Challú and Gómez-Galvarriato Reference Challú and Gómez-Galvarriato2015, p. 102), except for Caracas (Arroyo Abad Reference Arroyo Abad2013a, p. 129) and Lima (Arroyo Abad Reference Arroyo Abad2014, p. 63).
Masons' wages have been used as a benchmark for comparison. From this point of view, Buenos Aires is placed at the top of the ranking, surpassing even London in 1850. These ratios clearly indicate why, beginning in the 1840s, Buenos Aires was being chosen by immigrants worldwide as their destination (Masse Reference Masse2006).
9. CONCLUSIONS
I have reached preliminary conclusions; further research is required on the years following 1835 in order to be able to offer more solid insights for the first half of the 19th century, and thus cross the Rubicon of the 1850s, a milestone in Argentina's historiographic researchFootnote 26.
However, I have been able to establish some basic issues. Firstly, it was possible to design a theoretical minimum basket for 6 different years between the late colonial period and the first decades after independence, benchmarks constructed from reliable data and using the same methodology, although from different kinds of sources. This basket is seen as a minimum basket when considering the number of calories it contains; it represents, however, an RB according to current standards given the quantity and quality of its components. Quite unexpectedly, a high consumption of fish was observed towards the end of the colonial period; this faded dramatically in the 1810s. The fact that the source was a religious institution might be relevant here. Another finding—already suggested in our previous work (Gelman and Santilli Reference Gelman and Santilli2018)—is the increased share of meat in the diet of porteños (inhabitants of Buenos Aires). This increase was fuelled, it might be guessed, by the rise in the production of leather, which resulted in an excessive supply of meat which kept its price low in the long term, following the 1818/1819 incident with the saladeros (explained in footnote 19). It seems that the stability in meat prices balanced the volatility in wheat prices, which was reflected in the weight variation of bread per unit. As bread—a basic food staple—became more expensive, porteños tended to increase their consumption of meat because of its more stable price.
Another finding is the steady increase in the cost of the basket; it tripled in little more than 20 years, until 1819. This price hike has been observed in our previous study (Gelman and Santilli Reference Gelman, Santilli, Santilli, Fradkin and Gelman2014b) and by other researchers (Schmit Reference Schmit2018). However, it did not condemn the poor to live below their subsistence level. From 1806 onwards, I observed the stabilisation of real wages, not only masons' wages. I also noticed that the WR deteriorated slightly around 1835, falling 11 per cent throughout the period—a decline in real wages already charted in our work, which also hit the wages of the upper echelons in the military and the state hard (Gelman and Santilli Reference Gelman, Santilli, Santilli, Fradkin and Gelman2014b).
Finally, there are some pending issues that require further clarification. If—as we argue—the 1849 WR ranked so high, then real wages rose well beyond the expectations of historians. It is necessary to build baskets around 1849 and previous years to be able to chart their evolution and confirm this trend.
Virtually all wages, both in the city and the hinterland linked to rural production, the most dynamic economic sector, experienced significant growth. Only the wages of the military and public workers lagged behind. This tendency was reverted in 1852 and subsequent years, when the wages of the upper ranks in the army increased substantially (Gelman and Santilli Reference Gelman and Santilli2014a). Also, according to Fernando Barba (Reference Barba1999), public workers' wages doubled and even tripled nominally from 1852 onwards, a rise that mostly benefitted the upper ranks of public administrationFootnote 27.
To sum up, there are two pending issues regarding the standard of living in Buenos Aires in the 1800s-1850s: to reconstruct theoretical baskets for the 1835/1849 period and search for reliable data to build real baskets as described in Section 3. The task, then, is to deal with the second half of the 19th century with the same methodology—a challenge we have just begun to tackle in our field of research.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work has been possible thanks to the contribution of the National Agency for Scientific and Technical Promotion (ANPCyT), the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) and the University of Buenos Aires. I should appreciate the comments to a previous version presented at the Word Economic Congress of History Economic, Boston (2018), as well as colleagues from the Ravignani Institute of Buenos Aires and the anonymous evaluators of the Revista de Historia Económica/Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History.
