DOCSLIB.ORG

Marc Ferguson University of Massachusetts, United States

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Marc Ferguson University of Massachusetts, United States HAOL, Núm. 5 (Otoño, 2004), 127-139 ISSN 1696-2060 WHY THE WEST? Marc Ferguson University of Massachusetts, United States. E-mail: [email protected] Recibido: 11 Julio 2004 / Revisado: 13 Agosto 2004 / Aceptado: 10 Septiembre 2004 / Publicado: 15 Octubre 2004 Resumen: The question of how 'the West' came f one wanted to tell the story of Europe to dominate the globe during the modern era has coming to dominate the globe during the been debated recently among historians. The Inineteenth and into the twentieth centuries debate has been polarized between those who as the parable of the big bad wolf and the three view 'modernity' as the result of a 'European little pigs, the passage quoted above from David miracle', the culturally unique and internally Landes's The Wealth and Poverty of Nations1 generated project of the West, and those who would seem to do nicely. However, in Landes's question this 'European miracle' paradigm as version of the Rise of the West, the Europeans Eurocentric, and look to other factors to are not the "bad guys," they are the heroes of the understand and explain Western economic and story. But whether they were villains or political world dominance. The traditional messengers of historical necessity, the question narrative, represented by David Landes in his of how Europeans acquired this dominance is recent The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, one of the most hotly contested problems today attributes European success to its unique cultural among historians concerned with world history. values, social institutions, and political In recent years the discussion has intensified as practices. This success was entirely 'internally non-Europeanists, particularly Asianists, have driven' by these characteristics. Recently, a entered the fray over this question and are number of historians have questioned this challenging many of the long-accepted 'European miracle' paradigm as Eurocentric, and explanations for European domination. look to other factors to understand and explain Western economic and political world I think at the heart of this debate is a quarrel dominance. After surveying the recent work of over the very nature of history and historical historians addressing this problem, this paper explanation. Does history run in a single argues for placing European expansion within a direction, to a definite destination, if only one global context, and understanding the Industrial takes the right path? Is it structured and driven Revolution as a global transformation. This by large forces, perhaps economic, perhaps perspective allows us to understand European geographic? Or, is it contingent on innumerable technological and economic changes within the factors with many possible directions and larger context of patterns of worldwide solutions to the dilemmas that are faced by economic and cultural interaction. societies? Scholars examining the problem of Palabras Clave: Eurocentric, European miracle, European global dominance have taken all of globe, Western, Western economic. these approaches in recent years, and not ______________________ surprisingly come to very different conclusions. "So the years passed, and the decades, and the The disagreements are not only over the reasons centuries. Europe left China far behind. At first for European dominance but also the timing, unbelieving and contemptuous, China grew anxious with vastly different interpretations of Europe's and frustrated. From asking and begging, the role in the world during the early modern period, Westerners became insistent and impatient. The British saw two embassies dismissed with contempt. 1500-1800 AD. The disputants in the current The third time, in 1839, they came in with gunboats debate have staked out clear positions, and the and blew the door down" rhetoric duplicates the academic culture wars (David Landes, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations) over Western Civilization that for the past decade have occupied those concerned with how history is taught. Pursuing this large question © Historia Actual Online 2004 127 Why the West? Marc Ferguson requires shaking up a hornet's nest of difficult firepower: "Europe could now plant itself historical problems. This paper will examine the anywhere on the surface of the globe within recent debate over "the rise of the west," and reach of naval cannon"8. Pedro Alvares Cabral, will primarily focus on several recent works on commanding this fleet of thirteen ships, was sent this topic. The debate has been polarized by the Portuguese just to do a little business, it between those who view "modernity" as the seems. As Landes explains, "they sent him to result of a "European miracle"2, the culturally make money and told him not to look for unique and internally generated project of the trouble; but if a hostile vessel should try to do West, and those who question this "European him harm, he was not to let it come near, but miracle" paradigm as Eurocentric, and look to rather to stand off and blow it out of the water"9. other factors to understand and explain Western It is significant to Landes that shortly after this, economic and political world dominance. David European ships were regularly calling on ports Landes has written a recent book vigorously throughout the world, while no Asian ships stating the argument for European economic and appeared in Europe. China had abruptly stopped political dominance resulting from internal its voyages under Zheng He in the early 15th development, and attributing the motive force century, an example of its essentially static and for this development to culture. On the other inward-looking culture. hand, Andre Gunder Frank sees European economic ascendancy as a recent and temporary So Europeans had seized the world initiative, phenomenon, and attempts to place it in the and it was their unique cultural values that context of a longstanding world-economic allowed for them to do this. This European system3. R. Bin Wong4 and Kenneth Pomeranz5 exceptionalism goes back for Landes to classical use comparative strategies to account for the times, as "Europe had always thought of itself as energy transformation of the industrial different from the societies to the east"10. The revolution, which they see as crucial to Western difference, of course, was the distinction economic advantages. Jack Goldstone argues for between the "free city" of the West and the the importance of certain political, cultural, and despotisms of the East. Linked with Western scientific changes which occurred specifically in democracy was the notion of private property. England after 1688 in leading to the Landes finds that the Western conception of technological breakthroughs of the industrial property rights goes back to biblical times. revolution a century later6. I will look at the Judaic and Christian values play an important arguments of these historians, offer some role, particularly later during the early modern critique of their strengths and weaknesses, and period, in his argument for European finally suggest some directions for exceptionalism. More than this, however, "the conceptualizing the analysis and further very notion of economic development was a research. Western Invention"11. We are not surprised when Landes later explicitly invokes the David Landes attributes European success to its Weberian thesis of the relationship between unique cultural values, social institutions, and Protestant ethics and capitalism. He asserts that political practices. This success was entirely "the heart of the matter lay indeed in the making "internally driven" by these characteristics. of a new kind of man –rational, ordered, Europe was indeed "exceptional," and "took diligent, productive"12. Ah yes, the relationship another path," from the rest of the world's between values and economic success! Let's not societies. He argues that "for the last thousand forget those other European characteristic years, Europe (the West) has been the prime mentioned by Landes at various points: honesty mover of development and modernity"7. It took and thrift, as well as greed and passion. These 500 years of preparation to assume world factors in his argument cannot be stressed too dominance, but when Europeans appeared in the much, since he declares, "if we learn anything Indian Ocean around 1500 they already had the from the history of economic development, it is advantages necessary to dominate the world. that culture makes all the difference"13. This shift to European world supremacy is marked for Landes by the Portuguese fleet sent The dynamic nature of European technology is a out in 1500 to follow up on Vasco Da Gama's product of the Middle Ages, which Landes calls circumvention of Africa and entrance into the "one of the most inventive societies that history Indian Ocean in 1498. The Portuguese were had known"14. Not only did Europeans create superior to anyone they would find there, and the notion of economic development, they are they knew it. What made this so? In a word, also responsible for "the invention of invention," 128 © Historia Actual Online 2004 Marc Ferguson Why the West? the title of one of Landes's chapters. The quality Narrative of this approach, typified by such of European technology is of course for Landes thinkers as Karl Marx and Max Weber, was to a result of European culture's openness to see modernity as the great teleological project of innovation and change. He cites several the West. The practice of world history, using examples of European invention, or adoption the approaches of these European social and novel use of other's technology. These sciences, takes the history of Europe as the norm examples include the water wheel, eyeglasses, when examining the history of other parts of the gunpowder, and printing. He also writes of the globe. Therefore, revisionists start by superiority of European shipbuilding, and their questioning the fundamental assumptions of use of technology that allowed them to navigate historians who situate the origins of modernity the oceans.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • October 2004
    SECRETARY’S MESSAGE didn’t last until 1 a.m., I hear that plenty of attendees were still going strong then – and not only young graduate students! I was there long enough to see Arne Kaijser and Paul Edwards jamming with For all of our members who made it to the band on stage and to hear Johan Schot and Ruth Amsterdam, I hope you’ve now recovered from Oldenziel announce that they’d made the dance your travels. A special welcome to all of our first- party into a new SHOT tradition. We’ll see - I’m time attendees who are now new SHOT members not quite ready to make any promises for – we hope to see you in Minneapolis next Minneapolis. Each SHOT location has its November and hope that SHOT will become a distinctive opportunities, but our members always valuable, lasting part of your professional life. All manage to have fun wherever we go. And for those of us had the opportunity to appreciate a most who have their hearts absolutely set on a wild party, successful conference, the credit for which, of there’s always our Las Vegas meeting in 2006! course, goes to Johan Schot, meeting coordinator Donna Mehos, and their beautifully efficient local arrangements team. As always, we had the chance to hear some fascinating papers, thanks to In This Issue program creators Ruth Oldenziel, Dan Holbrook, and Eda Kranakis. Society Business and News……………………3 The meeting featured a number of special points Prize Winners………………………………….3 to remember, starting with the setting, the impressively-domed Koepelchurch.
    [Show full text]
  • World History Education in Scholarship, Curriculum, and Textbooks, 1890-2002
    WHAT ARE OUR 17-YEAR OLDS TAUGHT? WORLD HISTORY EDUCATION IN SCHOLARSHIP, CURRICULUM AND TEXTBOOKS, 1890-2002 Jeremy L. Huffer A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS December 2009 Committee: Tiffany Trimmer, Advisor Scott Martin Nancy Patterson © 2009 Jeremy L. Huffer All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Tiffany Trimmer, Advisor This study examines world history education in the United States from the late 19th century through 2002 by investigating the historical interplay between three mechanisms of curricular control: scholarship, curriculum recommendations, and textbook publishing. Research for this study has relied on unconventional source classification, with historical monographs which defined key developments in world history scholarship and textbooks being examined as primary sources. More typical materials, such as secondary sources analyzing philosophical educational battles, the history of educational movements, historiography, and the development of new ideologies from have been incorporated as well. Since educational policy began trending towards increasing levels of standardization with the implementation of compulsory education in the late 1800s, policymakers have been grappling with what to teach students about the wider world. Early scholarship focused on the history of Western Civilization, as did curriculum recommendations and world history textbooks crafted by professional historians of the period. Amidst the chaos of two World Wars, economic depression, the collapse of the global imperial system, and the advent of the Cold War traditional accounts of the unimpeachable progress of the Western tradition began to ring hollow with some historians. New scholarship in the second half of the twentieth century refocused world history, shifting away from the cyclical rise and fall of civilizations model which emphasized the separate traditions of various societies and towards a narrative of increasing interconnectedness.
    [Show full text]
  • Baldwin Chapter 6 the Value Structure of Technologies 8-18-20
    Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations Chapter 6 The Value Structure of Technologies, Part 1: Mapping Functional Relationships Carliss Y. Baldwin Working Paper 21-039 Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations Chapter 6 The Value Structure of Technologies, Part 1: Mapping Functional Relationships Carliss Y. Baldwin Harvard Business School Working Paper 21-039 Copyright © 2020 by Carliss Y. Baldwin Working papers are in draft form. This working paper is distributed for purposes of comment and discussion only. It may not be reproduced without permission of the copyright holder. Copies of working papers are available from the author. Funding for this research was provided in part by Harvard Business School. © Carliss Y. Baldwin Comments welcome. Please do not circulate or quote. Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations Chapter 6 The Value Structure of Technologies, Part 1: Mapping Functional Relationships By Carliss Y. Baldwin Note to Readers: This is a draft of Chapter 6 of Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations. It builds on prior chapters, but I believe it is possible to read this chapter on a stand-alone basis. The chapter may be cited as: Baldwin, C. Y. (2020) “The Value Structure of Technologies, Part 1: Mapping Functional Relationships,” Harvard Business School Working Paper (Rev. September 2020). I would be most grateful for your comments on any aspect of this chapter! Thank you in advance, Carliss. Abstract Organizations are formed in a free economy because an individual or group perceives value in carrying out a technical recipe that is beyond the capacity of a single person.
    [Show full text]
  • The Great Divergence the Princeton Economic History
    THE GREAT DIVERGENCE THE PRINCETON ECONOMIC HISTORY OF THE WESTERN WORLD Joel Mokyr, Editor Growth in a Traditional Society: The French Countryside, 1450–1815, by Philip T. Hoffman The Vanishing Irish: Households, Migration, and the Rural Economy in Ireland, 1850–1914, by Timothy W. Guinnane Black ’47 and Beyond: The Great Irish Famine in History, Economy, and Memory, by Cormac k Gráda The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy, by Kenneth Pomeranz THE GREAT DIVERGENCE CHINA, EUROPE, AND THE MAKING OF THE MODERN WORLD ECONOMY Kenneth Pomeranz PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON AND OXFORD COPYRIGHT 2000 BY PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PUBLISHED BY PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, 41 WILLIAM STREET, PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY 08540 IN THE UNITED KINGDOM: PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, 3 MARKET PLACE, WOODSTOCK, OXFORDSHIRE OX20 1SY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA POMERANZ, KENNETH THE GREAT DIVERGENCE : CHINA, EUROPE, AND THE MAKING OF THE MODERN WORLD ECONOMY / KENNETH POMERANZ. P. CM. — (THE PRINCETON ECONOMIC HISTORY OF THE WESTERN WORLD) INCLUDES BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES AND INDEX. ISBN 0-691-00543-5 (CL : ALK. PAPER) 1. EUROPE—ECONOMIC CONDITIONS—18TH CENTURY. 2. EUROPE—ECONOMIC CONDITIONS—19TH CENTURY. 3. CHINA— ECONOMIC CONDITIONS—1644–1912. 4. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT—HISTORY. 5. COMPARATIVE ECONOMICS. I. TITLE. II. SERIES. HC240.P5965 2000 337—DC21 99-27681 THIS BOOK HAS BEEN COMPOSED IN TIMES ROMAN THE PAPER USED IN THIS PUBLICATION MEETS THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS OF ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997) (PERMANENCE OF PAPER) WWW.PUP.PRINCETON.EDU PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 3579108642 Disclaimer: Some images in the original version of this book are not available for inclusion in the eBook.
    [Show full text]
  • Tena Istambul05
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Universidad Carlos III de Madrid e-Archivo The good reputation of late XIX century protectionism: manufacture versus total protection in the European tariff growth debate. Antonio Tena Universidad Carlos III [email protected] “Although import substitution policies have gradually lost their shine over the postwar period, their reputation has remained intact for the late nineteenth century” (Irwin, D. (2001) p. 1.) Paper presented to the 6th Conference of EHES in Istambul (This is a very preliminary work please do not quote) Antonio Tena Junguito Universidad Carlos III de Madrid Despacho 7.55 e-mail: [email protected] C/. Madrid 126.- 28 903 Getafe (Madrid) Tel: (34)91-624 96 20 .- Fax: (34) 91-624 95 74 1 The good reputation of late XIX century protectionism: manufacture versus total protection in the European tariff growth debate. Antonio Tena Universidad Carlos III [email protected] “Although import substitution policies have gradually lost their shine over the postwar period, their reputation has remained intact for the late nineteenth century” (Irwin, D. (2001) p. 1. Abstract: In the tariff growth debate, especially for Europe late XIX century, the important question is: was protection a successful policy to foster industrialization? Total tariff average may not only provide little information for interpreting the tariff mechanism causation to growth but perhaps an erroneous one. This paper try to make more explicit the relation between industrial, agricultural and fiscal tariffs to clear the mechanism of causation between tariffs and growth.
    [Show full text]
  • A Cape of Asia: Essays on European History
    A Cape of Asia.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 10-10-11 / 11:44 | Pag. 1 a cape of asia A Cape of Asia.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 10-10-11 / 11:44 | Pag. 2 A Cape of Asia.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 10-10-11 / 11:44 | Pag. 3 A Cape of Asia essays on european history Henk Wesseling leiden university press A Cape of Asia.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 10-10-11 / 11:44 | Pag. 4 Cover design and lay-out: Sander Pinkse Boekproductie, Amsterdam isbn 978 90 8728 128 1 e-isbn 978 94 0060 0461 nur 680 / 686 © H. Wesseling / Leiden University Press, 2011 All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book. A Cape of Asia.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 10-10-11 / 11:44 | Pag. 5 Europe is a small cape of Asia paul valéry A Cape of Asia.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 10-10-11 / 11:44 | Pag. 6 For Arnold Burgen A Cape of Asia.indd | Sander Pinkse Boekproductie | 10-10-11 / 11:44 | Pag. 7 Contents Preface and Introduction 9 europe and the wider world Globalization: A Historical Perspective 17 Rich and Poor: Early and Later 23 The Expansion of Europe and the Development of Science and Technology 28 Imperialism 35 Changing Views on Empire and Imperialism 46 Some Reflections on the History of the Partition
    [Show full text]
  • PAUL BAIROCH Elise S
    New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2008 PAUL BAIROCH Elise S. Brezis Paul Bairoch was born in Antwerp in 1930. He was the son of a Jewish family that emigrated from Poland to Belgium in the 1920s, and that later went into exile in a small village in Gers, France during World War II. After the war, Bairoch moved to Brussels, later spent a short period in Israel, and started studying economic history upon his return to Belgium. While a research fellow at the University of Brussels, Bairoch developed statistical time series on the national statistics of Belgium, worked on his doctorate, and in 1963, presented his thesis, titled “The Starting Process of Economic Growth”. He then went on to teach in a number of universities and even worked at GATT for a time. From 1972 onwards, Bairoch was a member of the faculty at the University of Geneva, where he was director of the Center of International Economic History until his death in 1999 in Geneva. A trait common to all Bairoch’s research in economic history from his thesis onwards was that he based his opinions on data, and when the data did not exist, he found a way to collect or construct it. Bairoch can be seen as a pioneer of cliometrics, and believed that without data and statistical information, economic history is left to eradication. David Landes (1998, p.XIII) even gave Bairoch the nickname “collector and calculator of the numbers of growth and productivity”. Another characteristic typical of Bairoch’s research is that he was not afraid to be non-conformist and present views that ran against the mainstream.
    [Show full text]
  • Great Divergence of the 18Th Century?
    Cliodynamics: The Journal of Quantitative History and Cultural Evolution Great Divergence of the 18th Century? Andrey Korotayev1,2, Julia Zinkina3, Denis Zlodeev1 1 National Research University Higher School of Economics 2 Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences 3 Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration Abstract The article suggests that the Great Divergence of the 19th century between “the West” and “the East” was preceded by the Great Divergence in the 18th century between the Global North and the Global South. This may be attributed to a new, much higher level of state efficiency in the Global North. The eastern and western regions of the Global North frequently used different methods to make their state apparatuses more efficient, but achieved strikingly similar results during the 18th century. The Great Divergence of the 19th century, remarkably, occurred within the Global North. Introduction. The Great Divergence One of the major contributions made by Jack Goldstone to the study of social macroevolution is constituted by his founding of the 'California School' in whose framework the Great Divergence theory was developed (Frank 1998; Goldstone 1991, 2002, 2008a, and 2008b; Marks 2002; Pomeranz 2000 and 2002; Vries 2003, 2010, and 2013; Wong 1997). In the 19th century, northwestern Europe saw the birth of capital-intensive and fossil-fuel based manufacturing. Spreading throughout Europe and the United States, these changes triggered explosive growth resulting in the gap in per
    [Show full text]
  • The Industrial Revolution As the Escape from the Malthusian Trap
    Komlos, John: The Industrial Revolution as the Escape from the Malthusian Trap Munich Discussion Paper No. 2003-13 Department of Economics University of Munich Volkswirtschaftliche Fakultät Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Online at https://doi.org/10.5282/ubm/epub.57 The Industrial Revolution as the Escape from the Malthusian Trap John Komlos, University of Munich Need one state the obvious, that the Industrial Revolution has surely fascinated as many historians as any other topic in the history of civilization? It was undoubtedly one of the most momentous development, one which continues to have a major impact on virtually all aspects of human experience. It changed the very basis of our existence: not only in the way we produce and consume, but outside of this realm as well, from our social interactions, to our political system. In short, the processes unleashed by the Industrial Revolution are crucial to understanding the primary forces that shaped the 1 modern world. Yet, in spite of the immense outpouring of literature on the topic, there is much confusion regarding appropriate conceptualizations. I review some of the salient conflicting viewpoints, and outline the complexities of change without claiming to do justice to a literature whose enormity prohibits precision within the modest confines of 2 an essay. I conclude by arguing that it is useful to think of the Industrial Revolution as a multidimensional pan-European process with deep roots in the past, intricately intertwined with demographic developments. Paradigms and Controversies There are a multitude of reasons why the debate over the Industrial Revolution is far from moving toward closure.
    [Show full text]
  • Leaving Western Civ Behind WILLIAM H
    Leaving Western Civ Behind WILLIAM H. MCNEILL I PROPOSE TO SURVEY MY EFFORT to understand Plato, Augustine, Luther, Voltaire, Marx, human history, seeking to clarify how I got to Flaubert, and many others. The Human Web (2003) from earlier world- views proffered by teachers and then altered My undergraduate years and elaborated by me, starting in childhood The course was put together by Ferdinand and proceeding all the way to the senility that Schevill, an elderly history professor who lec- PERSPECTIVES begins to beset me today. tured three times a week to a class of several In the beginning was Sunday school, where hundred. Schevill’s lectures had a clear and kindly teachers told us comprehensive point of view, juxtaposing Bible stories and did reason against faith, St. Socrates against St. their best to keep us quiet, except when we Paul, with clear and emphatic preference for My college years sang hymns. Christian doctrine was left out: Socrates and the human reason he stood for as contributed lasting no original sin, no redeeming grace, no hell the best available guide to human affairs. I either; and heaven remained very misty. The already had inklings of this secular—really, assumptions core message boiled down to this: Jesus loved eighteenth-century—viewpoint from high I used when us, and we should love him in return, just as school, where we had used Carl Becker’s text- working out all we loved and depended on our own mothers. book for modern European history. But it was my subsequent Not much of a worldview, but all a Canadian only under Schevill’s influence that what I Presbyterian Sunday school in the early 1920s will call the “Western Civ” model of the hu- notions about felt it safe to impart.
    [Show full text]
  • Tariffs the World Around 1870-1938
    Who Protected and Why? Tariffs the World Around 1870-1938 by Christopher Blattman University of California - Berkeley Michael A. Clemens Center for Global Development Jeffrey G. Williamson Harvard University August 2002 Paper to be presented to the Conference on the Political Economy of Globalization, Trinity College, Dublin (August 29-31, 2002). We have received superb research assistance from Martin Kanz and István Zöllei. In addition, we are grateful to many who have helped in our search for country tariff and other data used in this paper: Luis Bertola, Alan Dye, Bouda Etemad, David Feeny, Aurora Gomez, Paul Gregory, Pedro Lains, Peter Lindert, Ian McLean, Anna Maria Mayda, Sevket Pamuk, Dwight Perkins, Gunnar Persson, Leandro Prados, Paul Rhode, Athanasios Vamvakidis, and Tarik Yousef. We also benefitted from comments from Graciella Marquez Colin, Richard Cooper, Ron Findlay, Jeff Frieden, Steve Haber, Elhanan Helpman, Doug Irwin, Dani Rodrik, Dick Salvucci, Ken Sokoloff, Alan Taylor and seminar participants at a Harvard/IADB conference and the University of Uruguay. Most important, the paper draws extensively on a Latin American tariff paper written by Williamson with John Coatsworth, who the authors are pleased to thank publically. Remaining errors belong to us. Williamson acknowledges with pleasure financial support from the National Science Foundation SES-0001362, and all three authors thank the Center for International Development for allocating office space to the project. The post-conference revision of this paper will contain
    [Show full text]
  • Analysis of the Great Divergence Under a Unified Endogenous
    ANNALS OF ECONOMICS AND FINANCE 13-2, 317{353 (2012) Analysis of the Great Divergence under a Unified Endogenous Growth Model* Kunting Chen Business School, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China, 315211 E-mail: [email protected] Recently published research that attempts to explain the Great Divergence mainly focuses on geography, technological progress, and international trade. However, we do not believe these are its only | or even the most basic | causes. Instead, we submit that the `social culture' of a country or a region is the most fundamental reason and incorporates these other causes, thereby pro- viding a reasonable unified explanation. This paper is mainly based on a very simple two-sector benchmark model that simulates the economic characteris- tics of England and the Yangzi Delta of China during 1400-1850. It explores aspects of this transition period, and obtains many meaningful results that are consistent with Unified Growth theory, which is usually based on very complex models. Key Words: The industrial revolution; The great divergence; Difference of cul- ture and systems. JEL Classification Numbers: O10, O40. 1. INTRODUCTION In the long history of human development, the world's production and population increased very gradually prior to the nineteenth century. Fur- ther, the differences in living standards between countries were very small. However, from 1900 on, the story was different. In some countries, both population and production began exploding in a way that had never be- fore been seen in human history. At the same time, the ratio of the GDP per capita between the richest and poorest regions of the world widened * The paper is supported by the National Natural Science Fund of China (71273146), the Natural Science Fund of Zhejiang Province of China (Z12G030008), the Ministry of Education Social Science Fund of China (10YJA790019), the Natural Science Fund of Shandong Province of China (Z2008H02), and the Soft Science Fund of Shandong Province of China (2008RKB059).
    [Show full text]