Book excerpt: First published in book form in 1981, this collection of essays originally written between 1955 and 1966 contains ground-breaking research and analysis on the study of wages and prices across seven centuries, with particular reference to builder’s wage rates and the price of a bundle of the commodities on which these wages might be spent. These seminal contributions to the economics of labour and economic growth did much to fuel the debate surrounding the problems of inflation, stability and changes in the purchasing power of money upon the book’s initial publication. These concerns are every bit as relevant in today’s post credit-crunch society and this reissue will be welcomed by all students of economic history and labour economics.