A seminar on economic history was held in CLDS on June 14, 2018 where Boško Mijatović and Branko Milanović presented the preliminary results of their research on the level and dynamics of the living standard of the urban part of Serbia between 1862 and 1910. The methodology used was developed by Robert C. Allen as a combination of the real wages of laborers and construction worker with a poverty line. It has been shown that the standard of the family of a laborer throughout the entire period was above the poverty line defined by the minimum standard basket.

After that a very interesting discussion was held about the causes of the first growth, then the fall in real wages and welfare ratios in some sub periods. In addition to Milanović and Mijatović, Bojana Katić-Miljković, Vesna Aleksić, Gordana Matković, Goran NIkolić, Mihail Arandarenko, Aleksander Rakonjac, Vladimir Mijatović and others participated. The factors mentioned that could explain these movements are the modernization under the prince Mihailo, the European economic expansion and the collapse in 1873, the Serbian wars with Turkey, the modernization period of the Progressists (1880s), the arrival of the Radicals to power in 1877, demographic expansion, bimetallism, agio and restrictive politics of the National Bank, guilds regulation, subsistence agriculture and the like.

The retail price index for the entire period (from Allen's respectability basket) was also calculated. Its growth was explained by the expansion of indirect taxes, the increase in the in money circulation and the fall in the value of silver on the world market.

Presentation by Mijatović and Milanović (Serbian only)