From Malthus to Ohlin: Trade, Growth and Distribution Since 1500 / Kevin H. O'Rourke, Jeffrey G. Williamson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

O'Rourke, Kevin H.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Williamson, Jeffrey G.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w8955.

NBER working paper series no. w8955

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

From Malthus to Ohlin

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2002.

Summary:

A recent endogenous growth literature has focused on the transition from a Malthusian world where real wages were linked to factor endowments, to one where modern growth has broken that link. In this paper we present evidence on another, related phenomenon: the dramatic reversal in distributional trends -- from a steep secular fall to a steep secular rise in wage-land rent ratios -- which occurred some time early in the 19th century. What explains this reversal? While it may seem logical to locate the causes in the Industrial Revolutionary forces emphasized by endogenous growth theorists, we provide evidence that something else mattered just as much: the opening up of the European economy to international trade.

Notes:

Print version record

May 2002.