Based on updated datasets of value added and of labour and capital inputs, this paper provides a reassessment of the proximate causes of Italy's economic development since its political unification in 1861 to 2016. Italy's pre-WWII economy featured weak productivity growth, with the exception of...

The Great and Little Divergence are examined in light of recent data on GDP/capita in the pre-industrial world. The Little Divergence is shown to be a myth, based on pasting together distinct and limited episodes of growth that peter out; and on close examination of diverse data on health, farm...

Economic and political development are contextual. Nevertheless, there are some general elements in the process of institutional persistence and change. We present a framework that goes beyond the standard institutional analysis and adds the concepts of beliefs, leadership, and windows of...

I revisit the 1918-20 pandemic and ask whether it led to a reversal in the rise of globalization that preceded it. Using annual data for 17 countries for the 1870-1928 period, a variety of tests and techniques are used to robustly draw some firm conclusions. Overall, the pandemic a century ago...

New institutionalism has had considerable success during the last decade in shepherding the debate on sustained economic development. If the sociopolitical, legal and economic transformations in the Anglo-Saxon world in the last three decades prove anything, however, it is that the late Mancur...

The present study contributes to the analysis of economic growth by comparing labour ant total factor productivity (TFP) in France, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States in the very long run (since 1890) and in the medium run (since 1980). During the past century, the United States has...

I revisit the 1918-20 pandemic and ask whether it led to a reversal in the rise of trade and financial globalization that preceded it. Using annual data for 17 countries for the 1870-1928 period, a variety of tests and techniques are used to draw some robust conclusions. Overall, the pandemic a...

Newly assembled macroeconomic statistics for early modern Portugal reveal one of Europe’s most vigorous colonial traders and at the same time one of its least successful growth records. Using an estimated model in the spirit of Allen (2009) we conclude that intercontinental trade had a...

Pooling data for 1905 to 2000, we find no systematic relationship between top income shares and economic growth in a panel of 12 developed nations observed for between 22 and 85 years. After 1960, however, a one percentage point rise in the top decile’s income share is associated with a...

This study, without providing a complete picture of the country’s economic development, aims to bring about a better understanding of the convergence experience of Turkey. We explore some aspects of the convergence process of Turkey and provide some international comparisons tracking the...