ABSTRACT This paper examines the impact of Singapore’s rise as a staple port on the city’s real wages and living standards during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, when this British colony acted as the heartland to surrounding hinterlands. Based on an analysis of newly reconstructed nominal wage and price time series, it is shown that real wages in Singapore fluctuated substantially over this period, rising and falling with the port’s staple trade in tin and rubber. As the city transformed itself into a commercial and financial hub during the interwar period, however, Singapore’s real wages rose, though this was accompanied by a widening skill premium. Compared to its peers in Asia, the city appears to have enjoyed a relatively higher average living standard before 1900, and possibly by the late 1930s as well.

中文翻译：

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1870–1939年新加坡的主要贸易，实际工资和生活水平

摘要本文探讨了新加坡作为主要港口的崛起在19世纪末至20世纪初时的实际工资和生活水平的影响，当时这个英国殖民地是周围腹地的心脏地带。根据对新近重建的名义工资和价格时间序列的分析，可以看出新加坡的实际工资在此期间大幅波动，随着港口锡和橡胶的主要贸易而上升和下降。然而，由于在两次世界大战期间该市转变为商业和金融中心，新加坡的实际工资有所上升，尽管伴随着技能溢价的扩大。与亚洲的同类城市相比，该城市在1900年之前，甚至在1930年代后期，似乎已经享有相对较高的平均生活水平。