The Decline of a Fully Matured Economy: Rural and Urban Real Wages in the Republic of Venice, 1390–1790

We investigate the relationship between rural and urban pre-industrial labor markets building a new series of real wages of building and agricultural workers for Venice and the Terraferma from 1390 to 1790. We measure the size of the rural–urban real wage gap and discuss its determinants, including rural–urban price, consumption, and fertility differences. We also relate the gap to building cycles and the asymmetric effects of plagues. Our findings have implications not only for measuring the size of the rural–urban wage gap, but also for the construction of real wage series more broadly.