Showing 1 - 10 of 180
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
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
There is controversy about whether geography matters mainly because of its contemporaneous impact on economic outcomes …
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10005136410
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
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
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
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
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
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
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