Getting to Fat Tuesday a Century Ago

Craig Depken: Division of Labour: “Mardi Gras Travel c. 1906… …From the Jan. 28, 1906 NYT is an advertisement for the Washington and Southern Railway: MARDI GRAS — NEW YORK TO NEW ORLEANS AND RETURN — $37.75: Tickets on sale February 21 to 27, good returning until March 3, 1906. Extension of limit March 16th can be had by depositing ticket and paying 50 cents at New Orleans…. The folks over at EH.net estimate the following 2004 values for the $37 round trip…. $789.69 using the Consumer Price Index. $628.9 using the GDP deflator. $3,459.73 using the unskilled wage. $4,577.43 using the GDP per capita…. Today’s cost of flying from NYC Laguardia to New Orleans? Travelocity has reasonably timed flights for around $160…. Relative to average prices, long-distance transportation has become cheaper by a factor of nearly five. Plus we have become richer by a factor of seven (or more, taking account of increases in the capabilities invention and innovation have granted us). The reduced time needed to travel is as important as the cheaper real cost of travel…

Originally published on bradford-delong.com