El nivel de vida de los trabajadores de Alcoy: salarios, nutrición y reforma sanitaria (1836-1913)

The aim of this article is to analyze the evolution of the standard of living in Alcoy using monetary and non-chrematistic indicators, as well as to determinet the impact that the health reform had on the living conditions of the population. A real wages, calories consumption and expenditure per capita in the sanitary reform series was constructed. The information provided by real wages and nutrition were compared with mortality and height, showing a lack of correlation that demonstrates the existence of urban penalty in the city. Finally, the contrast between public expenditure per capita with mortality and height highly correlationed, showing that the health reform was not a sufficient, but a necessary, condition to exceed the urban penalty and raise the standard of living of the population.