Pre-1820 cross-core data explorer
Real wages, urbanization, GDP per capita, and agricultural productivity for four pre-modern economic cores — London, Beijing, Delhi, Istanbul — from 1500 to 1820. The lines diverge after c.1750.
What you're looking at
Welfare ratio: annual income divided by the cost of a bare-subsistence basket. A value of 1.0 means a worker earns exactly enough to feed a family at subsistence; 4.0 means four times subsistence. The four cores were chosen because they're the best-documented pre-modern economic centers across Eurasia: London (Allen building-trades wage records), Beijing and Delhi (Allen 2017 reconstructions), Istanbul (Pamuk silver-wage series).
All four metrics tell the same story shape: comparable values c.1500–1700, divergence beginning c.1750, the gap widening through 1820. Toggle metrics to verify the shape is consistent. Toggle uncertainty bands to see where the data is robust (post-1700 London and Beijing) versus reconstructed (pre-1700 Delhi and Istanbul).