This paper addresses two puzzles in international trade, namely why traditional estimates of income elasticities of exports are implausibly high and why the export growth varies much more markedly across countries than can be explained by price competitiveness and variations in income in export...

Using long historical data for Britain over the period 1620-2006, this paper seeks to explain the importance of innovative activity, population growth and other factors in inducing the transition from the Malthusian trap to the post-Malthusian growth regime. Furthermore, the paper tests the...