I'd never seen a graph make a room full of economic historians collectively gasp before, but these fellows managed it when they presented this paper at Boston in 2018. Looking forward to reading the published version. https://twitter.com/heploloe/status/1291294313473806342

As I remember it, they show that we have been measuring comparative European living standards pre-1800 using wheat, even though few Europeans actually ate wheat at the time. When you use more commonly-consumed grains, Northern Europe's apparent lead in living standards vanishes.

It was that vanishing trick – done using two graphs – that made the audience gasp. If you squint and look at Figures 1 and 5 in the published article, you can sort of recreate the effect.

On the same panel, Pim de Zwart presented another interesting (mega) paper called 'Real Wages across the Globe: From Antiquity to the Present'. Essentially argued that living standards in Northern Europe have been overestimated because it's a cold climate.

We therefore have to allow for greater expenditure on clothing, fuel, and housing in Europe than in – say – India. I'm not sure in which of the seven circles of the peer review process that paper is in, but it was also an interesting one.