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When the purchasing power of a currency varies significantly over time as it did in Brazil, an estate of several contos may be a sign of extraordinary wealth at one time and be relatively common among persons of a middling sort several decades later. One common technique used to solve this problem is simply to convert the currency at any one time to that of a more stable economy; for example, the pound sterling or the U.S. dollar.1 One naturally asks, however, whether the foreign exchange rate is the best guide to local purchasing power, given that many of those at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale never, or rarely, bought imported goods nor depended directly on exports for their livelihood. For them, food is a more important criterion, and as a general rule, over time the price of all goods produced locally tends to move in tandem with the price of food. For this reason I have also included here the price of manioc meal and fresh meat. In addition, virtually every estate inventory in Salvador from 1780 to 1860 included slaves, even among those that listed very little else. It is well known that the prices of slaves increased dramatically during the period I am studying, albeit there were periods in which they declined,2 so I determined to take their price into account also in calculating the real value of an estate. I chose the year 1824 as the base year for establishing an index, for several reasons. It lies roughly halfway through the period that I study here. By then the war for Brazilian independence had ended, but the political instability that ensued had not yet begun, so values continued to reflect colonial understandings of economic realities. The export economy of the region still prospered. And by this date I could include price data for all four items of my inquiry—that is, manioc meal, meat, slaves, and the pound sterling (or, rather, the pence sterling). I arbitrarily decided, following the example of others , to weigh these four factors equally.3 The sources for the data are indicated in Table A.1. Appendix A. Purchasing Power over Time in Salvador Graham-final.indb 213 Graham-final.indb 213 6/30/10 10:33:26 AM 6/30/10 10:33:26 AM Table A.1. Arriving at an Index of Prices and Exchange Rates for Salvador, 1790–1860, with a Conversion Multiplier Year Manioc meal pricea (réis per liter) 5-yr avg. Manioc meal index (1824 = 100) Meat priceb (réis per kg) 5-yr avg. Meat index (1824 = 100) FX-SSAc (d. per milréis) 1789 13.2 40.7 66 1790 10.6 40.7 66.4 1791 10 12.5 31 40.7 41.8 26 67.7 1792 13.4 13.4 33 40.7 44.5 28 70.9 1793 15.4 15.1 37 46.4 47.2 29 67.7 1794 17.6 17.2 43 54.2 50.4 31 63.9 1795 19.2 18.2 45 54.2 52.8 33 67.1 1796 20.4 19.5 48 56.3 61.0 38 1797 23.0 57 68.0 42 1798 20.7 24.2 60 79.3 74.9 47 1799 31.62 24.0 59 82 82.9 52 1800 24.26 22.7 56 82 83.6 52 1801 19.27 23.2 57 88.4 84.8 53 1802 17.49 20.1 50 86.5 84.6 53 1803 23.34 17.6 44 84.9 84.9 53 63.4 1804 16.26 16.6 41 81 84.0 52 60.6 1805 11.58 17.2 42 83.8 85.6 53 60.8 1806 14.23 18.3 45 83.6 85.4 53 61.8 1807 20.38 17.3 43 94.7 84.2 52 64.2 1808 29.01 17.5 43 83.9 81.0 50 72 1809 11.3 18.9 47 75 81.7 51 73.6 1810 12.7 19.6 48 67.6 80.2 50 71.7 1811 21 17.5 43 87.2 80.5 50 73.6 1812 23.9 18.4 46 87.3 82.8 52 76.6 1813 18.4 19.9 49 85.4 86.1 54 76.6 1814 16 21.2 53 86.5 86.3 54 76.1 1815 20 25.5 63 84.1...

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