Caruana-Galizia, Paul, Hashino, Tomoko and Schulze, Max-Stephan 
ORCID: 0000-0001-7486-5734
(2021)
Underlying sources of growth: first and second nature geography.
In: Broadberry, Stephen and Fukao, Kyoji, (eds.)
The Cambridge Economic History of the Modern World: Volume 1. 1700 to 1870.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 339 - 368.
ISBN 9781107159457
Abstract
This chapter considers to what extent ‘geography’, broadly conceived, mattered for economic growth across the globe. First, it sets out the pattern of comparative aggregate growth between 1700 and 1870 and documents the east to west shift in the global distribution of economic activity. The next section surveys the comparative evidence on key first nature (or physical) geography characteristics that are potentially critical for long run economic development. This is followed by a discussion of second nature geography (the ’geography of interactions between economic agents’) and a quantitative assessment of the extent to which first nature characteristics, second nature geographical forces and institutional quality can account for income differentials across a sample of major economies in America, Asia, and Europe. Finally, a case study on shifting comparative advantage in the textile industry illustrates the outcomes of technical change within a changing global economic geography. The chapter concludes that changes in trade costs, agglomeration economies and differential access to markets with associated productivity gains probably played a major role in moving the economic centre of gravity. The West became absolutely and relatively richer than the East, not only because of better institutions but also because of more favourable geographies.
| Item Type: | Book Section |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | © 2021 Cambridge University Press |
| Divisions: | Economic History |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions |
| JEL classification: | R - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics > R1 - General Regional Economics > R11 - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, and Changes |
| Date Deposited: | 24 Oct 2024 12:57 |
| Last Modified: | 24 Oct 2024 14:39 |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/125873 |
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