This article provides a novel framework within which to evaluate real household incomes of predominantly rural working families of various sizes and structures in England in the years 1260–1850. We reject ahistorical assumptions about complete reliance on men's wages and male breadwinning, moving closer to reality by including women and children's contributions to family incomes. Our empirical strategy benefits from recent estimates of men's annual earnings, so avoiding the need to gross up day rates using problematic assumptions about days worked, and from new data on women and children's wages and labour inputs. A family life-cycle approach which accommodates consumption smoothing through saving adds further breadth and realism. Moreover, the analysis embraces two historically common but often overlooked family types alternative to the traditional male-breadwinner model: one where the husband is missing having died or deserted, and one where the husband is present but unwilling or unable to find work. Our framework suggests living standards varied widely by family structure and dependency ratio. Incorporating detailed demographic data available for 1560 onward suggests that small and intact families enjoyed high and rising living standards after 1700, while large or disrupted families depended on child labour and poor relief until c. 1830. A broader perspective on family structures informs understanding of the chronology and nature of poverty and coping strategies.

中文翻译：

---

超越男性养家糊口者：1260-1850 年完整和破碎的英国工薪家庭的生命周期生活水平

本文提供了一个新颖的框架，用于评估 1260 年至 1850 年间英格兰不同规模和结构的主要农村工薪家庭的实际家庭收入。我们拒绝关于完全依赖男性工资和男性养家糊口的非历史假设，通过将女性和儿童对家庭收入的贡献包括在内，更接近现实。我们的实证策略受益于最近对男性年收入的估计，因此避免了使用关于工作天数的有问题的假设来汇总日工资的需要，以及来自妇女和儿童工资和劳动力投入的新数据。通过储蓄适应消费平滑的家庭生命周期方法进一步增加了广度和现实性。而且，该分析包含两种历史上常见但经常被忽视的家庭类型，以替代传统的男性养家糊口模式：一种是丈夫去世或被遗弃而失踪，另一种是丈夫在场但不愿或无法找到工作。我们的框架表明，生活水平因家庭结构和抚养比而有很大差异。结合 1560 年以后可用的详细人口统计数据表明，1700 年后，小而完整的家庭享有较高且不断提高的生活水平，而大家庭或支离破碎的家庭则依赖童工和贫困救济，直到 我们的框架表明，生活水平因家庭结构和抚养比而有很大差异。结合 1560 年以后可用的详细人口统计数据表明，1700 年后，小而完整的家庭享有较高且不断提高的生活水平，而大家庭或支离破碎的家庭则依赖童工和贫困救济，直到 我们的框架表明，生活水平因家庭结构和抚养比而有很大差异。结合 1560 年以后可用的详细人口统计数据表明，1700 年后，小而完整的家庭享有较高且不断提高的生活水平，而大家庭或支离破碎的家庭则依赖童工和贫困救济，直到丙。1830. 对家庭结构的更广泛视角有助于理解贫困的时间顺序和性质以及应对策略。