Someone recently pointed me to a collection of statisics about what life was like in 1905, and one set struck me as interesting. The only valid comparison of prices between eras is the time-to-earn: how long does it take someone to earn the money to buy any given comparable product?

I started with this statistic, provided by the American Sociological Association: "a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year and worked an average of 57.7 hours/week." This translates to a figure of $1.67 per hour in 1905. You can go look up the current going rates yourself.

Here's what I discovered:

• It took him 86 seconds for a mechanical engineer to earn a pound of sugar. In 2005, it takes him 53 seconds.
• In 1905, it took him 5 minutes to earn a dozen eggs. In 2005, it takes him 70 seconds.
• It took 5 minutes, 25 seconds to earn a pound of coffee. In 2005, for a product of similar quality, it only takes 4 minutes, 33 seconds. For a gourmet coffee that simply was not available in 1905, 8 minutes and 15 seconds.
  
  And the most dramatic: In 1905, a three-minute phone call from New York to Denver: 6 hours, 35 minutes. Today, 34 seconds.

Tags: economics, shrill
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