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Coal and the European Industrial Revolution

Fernihough, Alan; O'Rourke, Kevin Hjortshøj - C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers - 2014

We examine the importance of geographical proximity to coal as a factor underpinning comparative European economic …, alongside temporal variation in the availability of coal-powered technologies, to quantify the effect of coal availability on … historic city population sizes. Since we suspect that our coal measure could be endogenous, we use a geologically derived …

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10011083731

Cultural Assimilation, Cultural Diffusion and the Origin of the Wealth of Nations

Ashraf, Quamrul; Galor, Oded - C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers - 2007

This research argues that variations in the interplay between cultural assimilation and cultural diffusion have played a significant role in giving rise to differential patterns of economic development across the globe. Societies that were geographically less vulnerable to cultural diffusion,...

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10005123872

Ruggedness: The Blessing of Bad Geography in Africa

Nunn, Nathan; Puga, Diego - C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers - 2007

There is controversy about whether geography matters mainly because of its contemporaneous impact on economic outcomes …

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10005136410

Quantifying Quantitative Literacy: Age Heaping and the History of Human Capital

A'Hearn, Brian; Baten, Jörg; Crayen, Dorothee - C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers - 2009

Age data frequently display excess frequencies at attractive numbers, such as multiples of five. We use this "age heaping" to measure cognitive ability in quantitative reasoning, or "numeracy". We construct a database of age heaping estimates with exceptional geographic and temporal coverage,...

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10005791567

The Three Horsemen of Growth: Plague, War and Urbanization in Early Modern Europe

Voigtländer, Nico; Voth, Hans-Joachim - C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers - 2009

How did Europe overtake China? We construct a simple Malthusian model with two sectors, and use it to explain how European per capita incomes and urbanization rates surged ahead of Chinese ones. Productivity growth can only explain a small fraction of rising living standards. Population dynamics...

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10005792138

Resistance to Technology Adoption: The Rise and Decline of Guilds

Desmet, Klaus; Parente, Stephen - C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers - 2013

This paper analyzes the decision of a group of specialized workers to form a guild and block the adoption of a new technology that does not require their specialized input. The theory predicts an inverted-U relation between guilds and market size: for small markets, firm profits are insufficient...

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10011083603

Long-run patterns in market efficiency and the genesis of the market economy: Markets around the Mediterranean from Nebuchadnezzar to Napoleon (580 BC and 1800AD)

Földvári, Péter; van Leeuwen, Bas; Zanden, Jan Luiten Van - C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers - 2011

Price volatility, reflecting the ability to absorb exogenous supply- or demand shocks, is an important dimension of market performance. In this paper we present a model to study the factors determining the price volatility of markets of basic foodstuffs in pre industrial societies. This model is...

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10009246614

The Simplest Unified Growth Theory

Strulik, Holger; Weisdorf, Jacob - C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers - 2007

This paper provides a unified growth theory, i.e. a model that explains the very long-run economic and demographic development path of industrialized economies, stretching from the pre-industrial era to present-day and beyond. Making strict use of Malthus’ (1798) so-called preventive check...

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10005123712

2008 Lawrence R. Klein Lecture -- Comparative Economic Development: Insights from Unified Growth Theory

Galor, Oded - C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers - 2009

This paper explores the implications of Unified Growth Theory for the origins of existing differences in income per capita across countries. The theory sheds light on three fundamental layers of comparative development. It identifies the factors that have governed the pace of the transition from...

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10008577814

External Integration, Structural Transformation and Economic Development: Evidence from Argentina 1870-1914

Fajgelbaum, Pablo; Redding, Stephen J. - C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers - 2014

provide evidence on the role of internal geography in shaping the effects of external integration. We develop a quantitative …

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10011083840

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