Cost of living in German towns

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 866449027

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-93831

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Cost of living in German towns

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: Stat. Off.

Year of publication:: 1908

Scope:: 1 Online-Ressource (LXI, 548 Seiten)

Collection:: Economics Books

Usage license:: Get license information via the feedback formular.

XXVlll been given ; in addition to the total index number separate index numbers are also given for food other than meat, meat and coal :— Prices Index Numbers for Geographical Groups. Geographical Group. Mean Prices Index Number. Number m of I Food Towns - I other than Meat. Meat. Total Food. Coal. All Com modities. Berlin •• Central Germany Rhineland Westphalia :— {a) Textile Towns... (b) Hardware Towns South Germany Saxony Silesia ... ... ... Baltic Ports North Sea Ports ... 100 97 107 105 104 100 92 97 100 100 106 110 103 107 114 104 108 111 100 99 108 105 105 103 94 99 102 100 95 80 70 119 95 67 101 96 100 99 104 100 107 102 91 99 101 Prices are thus shown to be highest in South Germany, and lowest in Silesia, the price of coal being an important factor in both cases. The textile towns of the Rhineland-Westphalia area which form the second highest-priced group have low coal prices—they are near to a source of supply—but high index numbers for meat and other food. Saxony has the highest index number for meat prices of any of the groups, and this, combined with a fairly high index number for coal, gives it third place. The Baltic Ports show low numbers for food other than meat, but high numbers for meat. Co-operative Societies.—In connection with the retail prices of commodities it may be remarked that, although the co-operative distribution movement is not so extensively developed in Germany as it is in the United Kingdom, it has yet a considerable hold in certain places, particularly in Breslau and in Saxony ; in the latter area the co-operative societies are reported to be strong in every one of the five towns investigated. Similar societies of importance exist in other towns, such as Stuttgart, Mannheim,- Barmen, Hamburg, Bremen, Remscheid, Dortmund, Magdeburg, Stettin, and Zwickau ; in yet others,‘ such as Berlin, Aachen, Mülhausen, Bochum, and Düsseldorf, they are relatively very weak. It may be pointed out here that the rules of the co-operative societies generally permit the sale to non-members of only articles of the societies’ production (e.g., bread). The case of Essen is peculiar, since there the prices charged by the working-class shops of the town are ruled by those charged in the numerous shops of the co-operative society established in connection with the Krupp Works (which, however, is scarcely a co-operative society in the ordinary sense of the term), and the shops of the town society. Similar stores insti tuted by firms for their workpeople are found in some other cases, e.g., at Königshütte and Magdeburg. In order to resist the co-operative move ment, combinations of traders have in many towns adopted a system of discounts, given in the form of stamps exchangeable ultimately for goods or for cash. The “ multiple shop ” system appears to have made so far but little progress in Germany. (iii) Rents and Prices Combined. The next Table gives for each of the 33 German towns index numbers showing the relative levels of that part of the cost of living which is due to expenditure on food, fuel, and housing accommodation. As the amount which has to be expended on food, &c., is very considerably greater than that which has to be spent on rent, a weight of four has been given to prices, and a weight of one to rent.

Access restriction

Copyright

fullscreen: Cost of living in German towns

Monograph

Table of contents

Download

Monograph

This page

Image fragment

Citation links

Citation recommendation