The article explores the evolution of household income in India before the late nineteenth century. At a time when criticism of estimates of global real wages challenges the assumptions arising from the Great Divergence Debate, we aim to provide alternative ways of contributing to the discussion. By looking at individual and household income, as well as consumption levels in different parts of India, we found that members of the household other than the head (namely women) supplied a larger part of its total income than an analysis of wage differentials would suggest. Moreover, we argue that India, in the centuries under review, had a functioning labour market, despite several impediments. This adds to the value of our data as building blocks to reconstruct real wages and, consequently, to better understand welfare levels. Nevertheless, the decline in the Indian skill premium suggests that channels of social mobility decreased over time. The implications of all these findings for the Great Divergence Debate depend on the extent to which our approach also has consequences for our view on household income in other parts of Eurasia. Certainly, they call for a nuanced approach to Indian economic development during the period.

本文探讨了 19 世纪末之前印度家庭收入的演变。当对全球实际工资估计的批评挑战了大分歧辩论产生的假设时，我们的目标是提供其他方式来促进讨论。通过观察印度不同地区的个人和家庭收入以及消费水平，我们发现除户主以外的家庭成员（即女性）提供的家庭总收入比工资差异分析所表明的要大。此外，我们认为，在所回顾的几个世纪里，尽管存在一些障碍，但印度的劳动力市场仍然运作良好。这增加了我们数据作为重建实际工资的基石的价值，从而更好地理解福利水平。尽管如此，印度技能溢价的下降表明，社会流动渠道随着时间的推移而减少。所有这些发现对大分歧辩论的影响取决于我们的方法在多大程度上也对我们对欧亚大陆其他地区的家庭收入的看法产生影响。当然，他们呼吁对这一时期的印度经济发展采取细致入微的方法。