This paper uses recently digitised samples of apprentices and masters in London and Bristol to quantify the practice of apprenticeship in the late 17th century. Apprenticeship appears much more fluid than is traditionally understood. Many apprentices did not complete their terms of indenture;...

The “Golden Age” of post-war European economic growth has witnessedextraordinary changes not only in the economic, but also in the social andcultural outlook of Western European societies. Eric Hobsbawm’s statementthat “[h]istorians of the twentieth century in the third millennium will...

In 1866, the Midland Railway Company demolished Agar Town,an area Victorian writers called the foulest slum in London, tomake way for the development of St Pancras railway station.Most Londoners lauded the action. But what kind of tenantsactually inhabited the area before it was destroyed, and...

In this paper we examine the concept of “vulnerability” within the context of incomemobility of the poor. We test for the dynamics of vulnerable households in the UKusing Waves 1 - 12 of the British Household Panel Study and find that, of threedifferent types of risks that we test for,...

This paper examines the profile of poverty in Tajikistan, the most remoteand poorest of the independent states of the Former Soviet Union. Datais used from the first nationally representative household surveyconducted in Tajikistan since independence and the cessation of the civilwar. The...

This article examines the role of family and the state in relation to theliving standards of the elderly in East Asia. It tries to test whetherfamilial arrangement according to Confucian ethics, which are still takenseriously in East Asia, secures the minimum standards of living for theelderly....

Older men have experienced the largest falls in employment over thelast twenty years. Two-fifths of men aged between 55 and 65 are withoutwork, compared to one-fifth in 1979, and the difference is equivalent to600,000 fewer jobs for this age group alone. Older women have notshared in the general...

The rise in inequality and poverty is one of the most important economicand social issues in recent times. But in contrast to the literature onindividual earnings inequality, there has been little work modelling (asopposed to documenting) household income dynamics. This is largelybecause of the...

In this study we pose two broad questions: what are the characteristics ofthe currently divorced; and who divorces? Divorce is used as an inclusiveterm to include separations from marriages and from cohabiting unions.In the first part data from the Family Resources Survey is used to identifythe...

This paper uses evidence from the US to examine the impact ofadolescent illegal consumption and violent behaviour on later lifechances. Specifically, we look at the effect of such behaviour by youngmen in late adolescence on productivity and household formation tenyears on. We find that alcohol...