Hostname: page-component-669899f699-8p65j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-25T03:46:49.041Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

SENSE AND SENSIBILITY: A HISTORY OF THE EARLY BRAZILIAN COST-OF-LIVING INDEXES IN PURSUIT OF A MINIMUM WAGE, 1935–1939

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2024

Victor Cruz-e-Silva
Victor Cruz-e-Silva*
Affiliation:
Victor Cruz-e-Silva: Adjunct Professor at Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), Brazil
*
Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The early decades of the twentieth century witnessed a far-reaching growth in empirical exercises designed to measure the cost of living. Brazil was no exception to this movement, and the first studies of this nature for that country surfaced between 1935 and 1939. Among these, three deserve special attention for the soundness of their construction. These are the exercises of Horace Davis, Samuel Lowrie, and Bruno Rudolfer, professors of the Free School of Sociology and Politics of São Paulo, which investigated the cost of living in connection with the pursuit of a proper minimum wage in Brazil. The aim of this article is to revisit their pioneering efforts to measure the cost of living and to indicate how these studies touched upon the search for a minimum wage in Brazil.

Type
Article
Information
Journal of the History of Economic Thought , Volume 46 , Issue 3 , September 2024 , pp. 358 - 379
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of History of Economics Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

The author would like to thank Marco Cavalieri for discussions on the subject. Thanks are also due to the CEDOC/FESPSP and the NPH/UFRGS for allowing access to relevant documents for the research. Finally, the author thanks two anonymous referees and the editor Pedro Duarte for valuable comments on previous versions of this paper.

References

REFERENCES

Affonseca, Léo. 1920. O Custo da Vida na Cidade do Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro: Imprensa Nacional.Google Scholar
Berlinck, Cyro. 1964. “Liderança e Liberdade.” Sociologia 26 (3): 281–305.Google Scholar
Boletim do Ministério do Trabalho, Indústria e Comércio. 1935. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, NPH Digital. n. 9, May/1935.Google Scholar
Boletim do Ministério do Trabalho, Indústria e Comércio. 1936a. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, NPH Digital. n. 18, February/1936.Google Scholar
Boletim do Ministério do Trabalho, Indústria e Comércio. 1936b. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, NPH Digital. n. 21, May/1936.Google Scholar
Boletim do Ministério do Trabalho, Indústria e Comércio. 1937a. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, NPH Digital. n. 34, June/1937.Google Scholar
Boletim do Ministério do Trabalho, Indústria e Comércio. 1937b. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, NPH Digital. n. 36, August/1937.Google Scholar
Boletim do Ministério do Trabalho, Indústria e Comércio. 1938a. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, NPH Digital. n. 42, February/1938.Google Scholar
Boletim do Ministério do Trabalho, Indústria e Comércio. 1938b. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, NPH Digital. n. 43, March/1938.Google Scholar
Boletim do Ministério do Trabalho, Indústria e Comércio. 1938c. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, NPH Digital. n. 48, August/1938.Google Scholar
Bowley, Arthur. 1913. “Working-Class Households in Reading.” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society 76 (7): 672–701.10.2307/2339708CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowley, Arthur, and Burnett-Hurst, Alexander. 1915. Livelihood and Poverty: A Study in the Economic Conditions of Working-Class Households in Northampton, Warrington, Stanley and Reading. London: G. Bell and Sons.Google Scholar
Bulhões, Octávio. 1950. À Margem de um Relatório: Texto das Conclusões da Comissão Mista Brasileiro-Americana de Estudos Econômicos (Missão Abbink). Rio de Janeiro: Edições Financeiras S.A.Google Scholar
Cardim, Mário. 1936. Ensaio de Analyse de Factores Economicos e Financeiros do Estado de São Paulo e do Brasil no Período de 1913–1934 pelo Methodo de Numeros Indices.” São Paulo: Secretaria da Agricultura, Industria e Commercio do Estado de São Paulo.Google Scholar
Clarke, Philip, and Erreygers, Guido. 2022. “Edgar Sydenstricker, a Pioneer of Health Economics.” European Journal of the History of Economic Thought 29 (6): 1066–1088.10.1080/09672567.2022.2136731CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Comish, Newel Howland. 1923. The Standard of Living. New York: Macmillan Company.Google Scholar
Conniff, Michael. 1981. Urban Politics in Brazil: The Rise of Populism, 1925–1945. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.Google Scholar
“Custo da Vida no Brasil e os Seus Fatores, O.” 1937. Jornal do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, February 16. Newspaper article.Google Scholar
Davis, Horace. 1935. “Padrão de Vida dos Operários da Cidade de São Paulo.” Revista do Arquivo Municipal de São Paulo 2 (13): 113–166.Google Scholar
Davis, Horace, and Davis, Marian. 1937. “Scale of Living of the Working Class in São Paulo, Brazil.” Monthly Labor Review 44 (1): 245–253.Google Scholar
Dean, Warren. 1969. The Industrialization of São Paulo, 1880–1945. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
De Castro, Josué. 1935. “As Condições de Vida das Classes Operárias no Recife.” Revista do Arquivo Municipal de São Paulo 2 (18): 167–176.Google Scholar
De Castro, Lauro Sodré Viveiros. 1938. “O Salário Mínimo.” O Observador Econômico e Financeiro 3 (30): 112–123.Google Scholar
Del Vecchio, Angelo, and Diéguez, Carla. 2008. As Pesquisas sobre o Padrão de Vida dos Trabalhadores da Cidade de São Paulo: Horace Davis e Samuel Lowrie, Pioneiros da Sociologia Aplicada no Brasil. São Paulo: Editora Sociologia e Política.Google Scholar
Escola Livre de Sociologia e Política. [1934] 2009. “Informações e Programas, 1933–1934.” In Kantor, Iris, Maciel, Débora, and Simões, Júlio, eds., A Escola Livre de Sociologia e Política: Anos de Formação. São Paulo: Editora Sociologia e Política, pp. 225–248.Google Scholar
Directorio de Estatistica Econômica e Financeira do Thesouro Nacional. 1935. Estatisticas Economicas. Rio de Janeiro: Typographia da Directoria de Estatística Economica e Financeira.Google Scholar
Glickman, Lawrence. 1997. A Living Wage: American Workers and the Making of Consumer Society. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Haddad, Paulo, and Versiani, Flávio. 1990. “Índice de Preços.” In Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística, ed., Estatísticas Históricas do Brasil: Séries Econômicas, Demográficas e Sociais de 1550 a 1988. Rio de Janeiro: IBGE, pp. 141–297.Google Scholar
Hennock, Ernest P. 1987. “The Measurement of Urban Poverty: From the Metropolis to the Nation, 1880–1920.” Economic History Review 40 (2): 208–227.Google Scholar
Jany-Catrice, Florence. 2018. “Conflicts in the Calculation and Use of the Price Index: The Case of France.” Cambridge Journal of Economics 42 (4): 963–986.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, Willford. 1930. Index Numbers Elucidated. New York: Longmans, Green and Company.Google Scholar
Lanata Briones, Cecília. 2021. “Constructing Cost of Living Indexes: Ideas and Individuals, Argentina, 1918–35.” History of Political Economy 53 (1): 57–87.10.1215/00182702-8816613CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levine, Robert. 1998. Father of the Poor? Vargas and His Era. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Love, Joseph. 1980. São Paulo in the Brazilian Federation, 1889–1937. Stanford: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowrie, Samuel, 1935. “Informações sobre a ELSP de São Paulo.” Revista do Arquivo Municipal de São Paulo 2 (15): 99–117.Google Scholar
Lowrie, Samuel. 1938. “Pesquisa de Padrão de Vida das Famílias dos Operários da Limpeza Pública da Municipalidade de São Paulo.” Revista do Arquivo Municipal de São Paulo 5 (51): 182–310.Google Scholar
Malan, Pedro, Bonelli, Regis, Abreu, Marcelo, and Pereira, José. 1977. Política Econômica Externa e Industrialização no Brasil (1939/52). Rio de Janeiro: IPEA/INPES.Google Scholar
Méndez, Jorge. 1950. “Minimum Wages in Latin America.” International Labour Review 62 (2): 116–140.Google Scholar
Monthly Labor Review . 1938. “Incomes of Families and Single Persons, 1935–36.” Monthly Labor Review 47 (4): 728–739.Google Scholar
Morgan, Mary. 2011. “Seeking Parts, Looking for Wholes.” In Daston, Lorraine and Lunbeck, Elizabeth, eds., Histories of Scientific Observation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 303–325.Google Scholar
Pohl-Valero, Stefan, and Domínguez, Joel Vargas. 2021. El Hambre de los Otros: Ciencia y Políticas Alimentarias en Latinoamérica, siglos XX y XXI. Bogotá: Editorial Universidad del Rosario.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
“Publicações.” 1938. Correio Paulistano, São Paulo, December 16. Newspaper article.Google Scholar
Revista de Conjuntura Econômica. 1947. “Índices Econômicos.” Revista de Conjuntura Econômica 1 (1): 2–17.Google Scholar
Rudolfer, Bruno, and Araújo, Oscar. 1939. “Estatística de Preços de Gêneros de Primeira Necessidade.” Revista do Arquivo Municipal de São Paulo 6 (62): 71–150.Google Scholar
Searle, Rebecca. 2015. “Is there Anything Real about Real Wages? A History of the Official British Cost of Living Index, 1914–62.” Economic History Review 68 (1): 145–166.10.1111/1468-0289.12059CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sember, Florencia. 2013. “The Reception of Irving Fisher in Argentina: Alejandro Bunge and Raúl Prebisch.” European Journal of the History of Economic Thought 20 (2): 372–398.10.1080/09672567.2012.758756CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Serviço de Estatística da Previdência e do Trabalho. 1940. Salário Mínimo. Rio de Janeiro: Ministério da Fazenda.Google Scholar
Serviço de Estatística da Previdência e do Trabalho. 1946. Levantamento do Custo de Vida no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Ministério da Fazenda.Google Scholar
Skidmore, Thomas. 1967. Politics in Brazil, 1930–1964: An Experiment in Democracy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
“Solucionando o Complexo Problema do Barateamento da Vida.” 1938. Gazeta de Notícias, Rio de Janeiro, January 26. Newspaper article.Google Scholar
Stapleford, Thomas. 2008. “Defining a ‘Living Wage’ in America: Transformations in Union Wage Theories, 1870–1930.” Labor History 49 (1): 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stapleford, Thomas. 2009. The Cost of Living in America: A Political History of Economic Statistics, 1880–2000. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Stapleford, Thomas. 2012. “Navigating the Shoals of Self-Reporting: Data Collection in the US Expenditure Surveys since 1920.” History of Political Economy 44 (Suppl.): 160–182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sudman, Seymour, and Ferber, Robert. 1971. “Experiments in Obtaining Consumer Expenditures by Diary Methods.” Journal of the American Statistical Association 66 (336): 725–735.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sydenstricker, Edgar, and King, Willford. 1921a. “The Classification of the Population According to Income.” Journal of Political Economy 29 (7): 571–594.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sydenstricker, Edgar, and King, Willford. 1921b. “The Measurement of the Relative Economic Status of Families.” Quarterly Publications of the American Statistical Association 17 (135): 842–857.10.1080/15225445.1921.10503486CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tooze, J. Adam. 2001. Statistics and the German State, 1900–1945. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Touchelay, Béatrice. 2015. “La Fabuleuse Histoire de l’Indice des Prix de Détail en France.” Enterprises et Histoire 2 (79): 135–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vargas Domínguez, Joel. 2023. “The Construction of the Minimum Wage and Nutrition in Mexico in the Early 20th Century.” História Crítica 87 (1): 101–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wells, John. 1983a. “Industrial Accumulation and Living Standards in the Long-Run: The São Paulo Industrial Working Class, 1930–75, Part I.” Journal of Development Studies 19 (2): 145–169.10.1080/00220388308421855CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wells, John. 1983b. “Industrial Accumulation and Living Standards in the Long-Run: The São Paulo Industrial Working Class, 1930–75, Part II.” Journal of Development Studies 19 (3): 297–328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolfe, Joel. 1993. Working Women, Working Men: São Paulo and the Rise of Brazil’s Industrial Working Class, 1900–1955. Durham: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Zamberlan Pereira, Thales. 2019. “The North-South-Divide: Real Wages and Welfare in Brazil during the Early 20th Century.” Revista de Historia Económica—Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History 38 (1): 185–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zimmerman, Carle. 1932. “Ernst Engel’s Law of Expenditures for Food.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 47 (1): 78–101.10.2307/1885186CrossRefGoogle Scholar