How was life? Volume II : new perspectives on well-being and global inequality since 1820.

How was life in 1820, and how has it changed since then? This question, which was at the core of How Was Life? Global Well-being since 1820, published by the OECD in 2014, is addressed by this second volume based on a broader perspective. How Was Life? New Perspectives on Well-being and Global Inequality since 1820, presents new estimates of working hours, biodiversity loss, social spending and GDP (accounting for the 2011 round on purchasing power parities) as well as measures of inequalities in wealth, longevity and educational attainment, gender disparities and extreme poverty. A final chapter synthesises the historical evidence included both in the current and previous volume of How Was Life? through composite measures of the average well-being performance of each country, and of different within-country inequality measures. As was the case for the previous volume, this book combines both a historical and a global perspective, presenting estimates since 1820 for 25 major countries and 8 world regions. While this evidence sometimes relies on partial and limited evidence, each chapter in this book assesses the quality of the data used and identifies areas for further historical research. This second volume of How Was Life? is the product of collaboration between the OECD and the OECD Development Centre, on one side, and a group of economic historians gathered around the CLIO-INFRA and Maddison projects, on the other. The historical evidence included in the report is organised around dimensions of well-being that mirror those used by the OECD in its report How's Life? Preface 5 Foreword 7 Acknowledgements 9 Readers’ Guide 16 Conventions 16 Executive summary 17 References 19 1 New perspectives on global inequality throughout history 20 Introduction 21 Aim of this report 22 Practical issues 25 Introduction to individual chapters 27 References 29 Notes 30 2 The long view on economic growth: New estimates of GDP 31 Introduction 32 Description of the concepts used 33 Gross Domestic Product per capita 33 The Income approach to measuring GDP 33 The Expenditure approach to measuring GDP 33 The Production approach to measuring GDP 33 Relative prices 33 Historical GDP Benchmarks 34 Historical sources and data quality 35 Long-run global developments in per capita GDP: Comparing the three approaches 37 The first test: Subsistence income 40 Analysing the accuracy of backward projections through comparisons with historical GDP benchmarks 42 Incorporating important historical benchmarks of GDP per capita 44 The world in 1820 48 Developments since 1820 48 Priorities for future research 50 References 50 Notes 54 3 The working week in manufacturing since 1820 55 Introduction 56 Description of the concepts used 56 Historical sources 58 Data quality 60 Main highlights of historical trends in working hours 61 Holidays and annual working time 66 Correlation with GDP per capita 68 Priorities for future research 69 References 70 Notes 72 4 Social spending and the welfare state 74 Introduction 75 Description of the concepts used 75 Historical sources and data quality 77 Main highlights of social spending trends 79 Social spending under, and since, communism 90 Correlation with GDP per capita and related social indicators 91 Priorities for future research 93 References 94 Annex 4.A. Data sources for individual countries 99 Countries covered in the chapter 99 Argentina 99 Australia 99 Brazil 99 Canada 99 China 99 Egypt 100 France 100 Germany 100 India 100 Indonesia 100 Japan 100 Italy 101 Kenya 101 Netherlands 101 Nigeria 101 Poland 101 South Africa 101 Spain 102 Russia 102 Sweden 102 Thailand 102 Turkey 102 United Kingdom 102 United States 103 Notes 103 5 Wealth inequality in the long run 105 Introduction 106 Description of the concepts used 107 Historical sources 109 Data quality 112 Main highlights of historical trends in wealth inequality 113 Developments in individual countries 113 Regional comparisons 116 A first glance at the global wealth distribution 117 Correlation with GDP per capita 119 Priorities for Future Research 120 References 122 Notes 125 6 Life expectancy and length of life inequality in the long run 126 Introduction 127 Description of the concepts used 127 Measurement 129 Historical sources 129 Data quality 130 Main highlights of trends in life expectancy and length of life inequality 132 Life expectancy 132 Length of life inequality 136 Trajectories of countries 140 Correlations with GDP per capita 142 Priorities for future research 144 References 145 Annex 6.A. Inequality measurement 148 Note 148 7 Inequality in educational achievement 149 Introduction 150 Description of the concepts used 150 Historical sources 151 Data quality 152 Main highlights of trends in educational achievement 152 Correlation of educational inequality with income 159 Priorities for future research 160 References 160 Notes 164 8 Gender equality since 1900 165 Introduction 166 Description of the concepts used 167 Historical sources 168 Data quality 170 Main highlights of historical developments in gender equality 171 Historical developments in different aspects of gender inequality 171 Historical developments in a composite measure of gender inequality 176 Correlation with GDP per capita 181 Priorities for future research 182 References 183 Annex 8.A. Additional evidence 186 Note 187 9 Global extreme poverty: Present and past since 1820 188 Introduction 189 Description of the concepts used 190 Historical sources 191 Prices from the ILO October inquiry 191 Consumption and income distributions 193 Estimating unobserved household mean income 194 Imputations 194 Data quality 195 Main highlights on trends in extreme poverty 196 Global extreme poverty 197 Extreme poverty in world regions 201 China 208 Correlation with GDP per capita 209 Priorities for future research 210 References 211 Notes 214 10 Biodiversity trends in a historical perspective 218 Introduction 219 Description of the concepts used 220 Historical sources 222 Biodiversity indices for world regions 223 Biodiversity state and pressure indicators based on historical research 223 Case study: Biodiversity change in the Netherlands, 1900-2010 225 Data quality 226 Main highlights on historical trends in biodiversity 227 Biodiversity indices for world regions 227 Biodiversity state and pressure indicators based on historical research 229 Case study: Biodiversity change in the Netherlands 1900-2010 232 Correlation with GDP per capita 236 Priorities for future research 236 References 238 Notes 241 11 A composite view on inequality and well-being 243 Introduction 244 Description of the concepts used 245 Historical sources and data quality 246 Main highlights 247 Correlation with GDP per capita 249 Trends in well-being inequality 251 Composite indicators 255 Conclusions and priorities for further research 261 References 262 Annex 11.A. Supporting material 264 Notes 266