The early modern great divergence: wages,prices and economic development in Europe and Asia, 1500–18001

Contrary to the claims of Pomeranz, Parthasarathi, and other ‘world historians’, the prosperous parts of Asia between 1500 and 1800 look similar to the stagnating southern, central, and eastern parts of Europe rather than the developing north‐western parts. In the advanced parts of India and China, grain wages were comparable to those in north‐western Europe, but silver wages, which conferred purchasing power over tradable goods and services, were substantially lower. The high silver wages of north‐western Europe were not simply a monetary phenomenon, but reflected high productivity in the tradable sector. The ‘great divergence’ between Europe and Asia was already well underway before 1800.     

The rise and decline of European parliaments, 1188–17891

This article quantifies the activities of medieval and early modern parliaments. It traces the long‐term evolution of this European institution, and offers a first pass at analysing its impact on long‐term economic development. Starting in Spain in the twelfth century, parliaments gradually spread over the Latin west between 1200 and 1500. In the early modern period, parliaments declined in influence in southern and central Europe and further gained in importance in the Netherlands and Britain, resulting in an institutional ‘Little Divergence’ between 1500 and 1800. We discuss the background of this phenomenon in detail. Moreover, by analysing the effects of parliamentary activity on city growth we find that these differences in institutional development help to explain the economic divergence between north‐western and southern and central Europe.     

The ‘light touch’ of the Black Death in the Southern Netherlands: an urban trick?

Although the fanciful notion that the Black Death bypassed the Low Countries has long been rejected, nevertheless a persistent view remains that the Low Countries experienced only a ‘light touch’ of the plague when placed in a broader European perspective, and recovered quickly and fully. However, in this article an array of dispersed sources for the Southern Netherlands together with a new mortmain accounts database for Hainaut show that the Black Death was severe, perhaps no less severe than other parts of western Europe; that serious plagues continued throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; and that the Black Death and recurring plagues spread over vast territories—including the countryside. The previous conception of a ‘light touch’ of plague in the Low Countries was created by the overprivileging of particular urban sources, and a failure to account for the rapid replenishment of cities via inward migration, which obscured demographic decimation. We suggest that the population of the Low Countries may not have recovered faster than other parts of western Europe but instead experienced a greater degree of post‐plague rural–urban migration.     

Book Review

Abstract

The importance of Swedish iron ore to the re-armament and wartime economy of Nazi Germany has been touched upon in a number of writings about the international politics of the period here under review. Erik Lonnroth has demonstrated how the question of continued ore deliveries constituted the flashpoint of Swedish-German relations during the 1930s.¹ Gunnar Häggläf describes the Swedish Foreign Office's balancing act between English and German desires in regard to the ore trade, and their role in the regulating of trade with the two belligerents in the autumn of 1939.² Magne Skodvin has explored the strategic and economic aspects of the attack on Norway and Denmark on 9 April 1940.³     

The rise and fall of Spain (1270–1850)1

Two distinctive regimes are distinguished in Spain over half a millennium. The first one (1270s–1590s) corresponds to a high land–labour ratio frontier economy, which is pastoral, trade‐oriented, and led by towns. Wages and food consumption were relatively high. Sustained per capita growth occurred from the end of the Reconquest (1264) to the Black Death (1340s) and resumed from the 1390s only broken by late fifteenth‐century turmoil. A second regime (1600s–1810s) corresponds to a more agricultural and densely populated low‐wage economy which, although it grew at a pace similar to that of 1270–1600, remained at a lower level. Contrary to pre‐industrial western Europe, Spain achieved its highest living standards in the 1340s, not by mid‐fifteenth century. Although its death toll was lower, the plague had a more damaging impact on Spain and, far from releasing non‐existent demographic pressure, destroyed the equilibrium between scarce population and abundant resources. Pre‐1350 per capita income was reached by the late sixteenth century but only exceeded after 1820.     

Labour migration and economic performance: London and the Randstad,c. 1600–18001

In most studies of early modern north‐western Europe, England is regarded as the successor of the Netherlands in terms of economic leadership. Whereas related topics like institutional and technological change or changes in trade and capital flows have been incorporated into the research on the comparison of these two rival states, labour migration is usually omitted. This article aims to fill this lacuna by focusing on labour migration to the two core regions of the Netherlands and England: the Randstad and London. Two main research questions are raised in this article. First of all, in what way did the two cores and their hinterlands differ with regard to their demographic, economic, and spatial structures, and how did this contribute to different trends in labour migration over time? Secondly, what was the effect of the configuration of the demand and supply factors of London and the Randstad for their economies and for those who lived in them? By trying to answer these two questions this article aims not only to shed light on a hitherto largely unexplored topic in the comparative geographic, economic, and demographic history of the two countries, but also to contribute to the understanding of migration as a factor in the promotion of economic growth.     

Russia and the world market in the seventeenth century

Abstract

At the end of the 16th century there were three principle routes linking the Russian market with Western Europe: an overland route through Poland, a sea route through the Baltic, and another sea route across the White Sea from the port of Archangel.     

Prices and Economic Change in Medieval Sweden

Abstract

The article explores relative price changes in medieval Sweden, with a focus on grain, beer, salt, oxen, butter, wax and iron. Supplementary data are provided on copper and hops. Most of these goods declined substantially in price relative to grain. The magnitude of the relative price shifts reflects technological and organisational change. Price cuts tended to be larger for goods that possessed a high knowledge content, such as iron, copper, and beer, or were involved in a more efficiently organised international trade, such as salt. This parallels the notion that north-western Europe, at least from the sixteenth century, developed a distinctive pattern of relative prices, with low prices of industrial goods and high prices of food. It is striking that Sweden, a peripheral economy of medieval Europe, exhibits these traits even before the sixteenth century. The great expansion of the European economy of the early modern period appears as a continuation of the innovations of the late medieval era.     

Patterns of technology imports: interregional comparison

There is not much direct trade between the major Latin American economies (Argentina, Brazil, Mexico) and Eastern Europe. However, these regions are increasingly interacting as borrowers of money and technology from western sources. During the last two decades the Latin Americans have been importing much more western technology—as documented in patent and license data—than Eastern Europe, one reason being that the former gain from large-scale direct investment by western firms, whereas Eastern Europe does not. Eastern Europe outspends Latin America on domestic research and it generates more endogenous technology as well, but this factor does not compensate for its smaller imports of western technology. This is demonstrated by the progressive erosion of Eastern European exports of technologically complex manufactures to the West by the aggressive exporters from the large Latin American and other newly industrializing countries. As recent developments indicate—including the contrasting response by the two regions to the debt crisis—it is likely that the heavier involvement of the Latin Americans in technology imports will continue with obvious implications for the competitiveness of these two regions in the western market for manufactures.     

Historical gender discrimination does not explain comparative Western European development: evidence from Portugal, 1300-1900

Gender discrimination has been pointed out as a determining factor behind the long-run divergence in incomes of Southern vis-à-vis Northwestern Europe. In this paper, we show that women in Portugal were not historically more discriminated against than those in other parts of Western Europe, including England and the Netherlands. We rely on a new dataset of thousands of observations from archival sources covering six centuries, and we complement it with a qualitative discussion of comparative social norms. Compared with Northwestern Europe, women in Portugal faced similar gender wage gaps, married at similar ages, and did not face more restrictions on labor market participation. Consequently, other factors must have been responsible for the Little Divergence of Western European incomes.     

The Russian market in world trade, 1500–1860

Abstract

The Russian market has played a prominent part in world trade throughout the ages. In Viking times Russia was a source of furs and slaves for the Arabian caliphate. However, from about AD 1000 the situation changed and from then on western Europe provided the market for Russian products. The trade with Novgorod and later on also with Riga came to be a vital element in the activities of German merchants, and the Hanseatic League's counting-house in Novgorod was an important rallying-point. In early medieval trade it was fur and wax products that were the chief exports from the Russian market. In the later Middle Ages other important products emerged: flax, hemp, tallow, ashes and skins. Flax and hemp were key articles for the shipbuilding industry, being used as materials for the rigging, ropes and sails. Flax was also an essential raw material for the textile industry. Tallow was used for the manufacture of soap and candles and also in making cloth and leather. Ashes and potash had a variety of technical uses, for example in the textile and glass industries. Skins were the raw material for the manufacture of leather. The products enumerated were virtually monopoly goods of eastern Europe and were regarded as quality goods. In western Europe there was a constant demand for Russian products.     

Is the J-Curve Effect Observable for Small North European Economies?

The present study tests for the J-curve for five North European countries—Belgium, Denmark, The Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden—using generalized impulse response functions. The results provide empirical support for the J-curve. Each country has an impulse response function generated from a vector error-correction model that suggests that after a depreciation, there will be a dip in the export-import ratio within the first half-year after the depreciation. The long-run export-import ratio appears to be higher than the low point of this early dip in almost all cases. Also, in most cases, the export-import ratio appears in many periods after the depreciation to be converging from below to a higher long-run equilibrium.     

Book reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Peter Brandon and Brian Short, The south east from AD 1000 Felicity Heal, Hospitality in early modern England F.J. Fisher, London and the English economy, 1500-1700, eds. P.J. Corfield and N.B. Harte John Chartres and David Hey, eds., English rural society, 1500-1800: essays in honour of Joan Thirsk Ian Archer, Caroline Barron, and Vanessa Harding, eds., Hugh Alley's Caveat: the markets of London in 1598, Folger Ms V.a.318 Lawrence Stone, Road to divorce: England, 1530-1987 Kenneth Fincham, Prelate as pastor: the episcopate of James I Maurice Beresford, East end, west end: the face of Leeds during urbanisation, 1684-1842 A.M. Urdank, Religion and society in a Cotswold vale: Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, 1780-1865 David Spadafora, The idea of progress in eighteenth-century Britain Roger Swift and Sheriden Gilley, eds., The Irish in Britain, 1815-1939 Peter Bosley, Light railways in England and Wales Malcolm Falkus, The Blue Funnel legend: a history of the Ocean Steam Ship Company, 1865-1973 Rob Sindall, Street violence in the nineteenth century Anne Orde, British policy and European reconstruction after the First World War Bill Luckin, Questions of power: electricity and environment in inter-war Britain Charles Harvey and John Turner, eds., Labour and business in modern Britain Liam Kennedy, The modern industrialisation of Ireland, 1940-88 Joel Mokyr, Twenty-five centuries of technological change: an historical survey Léopold Génicot, Rural communities in the medieval west Kees Gispen, New profession, old order: engineers and German society, 1815-1914 Paul M. Johnson, Redesigning the communist economy: politics of economic reform in eastern Europe Diane P. Koenker and William G. Rosenberg, eds., Strikes and revolution in Russia, 1917 James D. Tracy, ed., The rise of merchant empires: long-distance trade in the early modern world, 1350-1750 Derek Massarella, A world elsewhere: Europe's encounter with Japan in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Johannes Menne Postma, The Dutch in the Atlantic slave trade, 1600-1815 Patrick Manning, Slavery and African life: occidental, oriental and African slave trades Joseph W. Esherick and Mary Backus Rankin, eds., Chinese elites and patterns of dominance Philip C.C. Huang, The peasant family and rural development in the Yangzi delta, 1350-1988 Edward R. Beauchamp and Akira Iriye, eds., Foreign employees in nineteenth-century Japan Michael Cusumano, The Japanese automobile industry: technology and management at Nissan and Toyota Donald R. Hoke, Ingenious Yankees: the rise of the American system of manufactures in the private sector Joel Mokyr, The lever of riches: technological creativity and economic progress Claudia Goldin, Understanding the gender gap: an economic history of American women Stuart B. Kaufman and Peter J. Albert, eds., The Samuel Gompers papers, 3: unrest and depression, 1891-94 Sydney Checkland, Voices across the water: an Anglo-Canadian boyhood Barry Dyster and David Meredith, Australia in the international economy in the twentieth century G. Tortella, ed. Education and economic development since the industrial revolution James C. Riley, Sickness, recovery and death: a history and forecast of ill health T.R. Slater, ed. The built form of western cities Cyril Ehrlich, The piano: a history, revised edition Barry Eichengreen and Peter H. Lindert, eds., The international debt crisis in historical perspective David W. Galenson, ed., Markets in history: economic studies of the past     

The Corn Laws and English wheat prices, 1815–1846

The British Corn Laws of the nineteenth century are the classic example of a trade barrier. This paper evaluates their importance to English society by analyzing the effects of the Corn Laws on wheat markets. Import supply elasticities are estimated for all of England's major grain supply markets, using data on prices, quantities, and freight costs from each country. A partial equilibrium trade arbitrage model is then constructed. In the absence of the Corn Laws, prices would have been 9 percent lower and consumption about 1.5 percent greater. The Corn Laws were, therefore, of great social and economic importance as England moved into the period of industrialization.     

Are children poor men's riches?

Abstract

Extract

Fertility declined fairly simultaneously in most western countries nearly a century ago. The question of which social groups were early in starting the decline is thought to have been answered: the common assertion is that the highest social groups started to control their fertility and, as time passed, that their new reproductive behaviour percolated down through the social layers. The current project on the secular decline in fertility in Norway has revealed that the families at the very top of the social hierarchy were the national pioneers in family limitation. The hypothesis in this article is, however, that family limitation in Norway also had an independent point of departure in the rural lower classes. In this article, I will therefore challenge the ‘general truth’ that there is always an inverse relationship between fertility and social status in the initial phase of the secular decline in fertility.     

南与北的重庆之约

2019年10月22日,一列来自重庆的中欧班列,在新疆乌鲁木齐中欧班列集结中心加挂了两组发往荷兰鹿特丹的集装箱,继续前往欧洲。这种集拼集运的运输模式,是重庆与新疆合作落实国家"一带一路"倡议、推进中欧班列高效运行的有力之举,不仅让新疆本地产品搭上了中欧班列(渝新欧)的便车,还为中欧班列集拼集运模式常态化运行提供了有力支撑。     

Consumer revolution in north-western Germany: Material culture,global goods,and proto-industry in rural households in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries

Existing scholarship on the early modern consumer revolution postulates a dichotomy between the classic pioneering countries of England and the Netherlands and the remaining parts of Europe, which were more stagnant. We contribute to this literature by analysing probate inventories in a rural area in north-western Germany. We show that a closer look at these spaces, which had an intermediate level of development and integration into global markets, reveals a more gradual development and a discernible market evolution. Sumptuary laws may have somewhat slowed down the change in material culture in German regions, but the presence of towns and the proximity to the Netherlands had noticeably positive effects on consumer behaviour. The proto-industrial orientation of local economies proved to be particularly important, as it led to the granting of access to global markets, in addition to greater availability of cash. We observe a delayed diffusion of the new consumer culture in intermediate European regions and argue for a more gradual view of the European consumer revolution.     

The industrial revolution and the Netherlands: Why did it not happen?

Why was the Netherlands not a leader in the first Industrial Revolution (1760-1830) despite its advanced economy in the eighteenth century? This paper argues that the Industrial Revolution in its early stages required a close cooperation between knowledge of nature and its application to technology. The closeness of natural philosophers, engineers, and entrepreneurs was a key to success in Britain. In the Netherlands, a combination of cultural relics from the Golden Age and unfortunate political events after 1780 combined to delay the technological development. As a small, open economy, the country eventually overcame its obstacles and joined modern western industrial progress after 1860.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Books reviewed in this article:
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND
P. R. Coss, Lordship, knighthood and locality: a study in English society , c. 1180 -c. 1280
Ian W. Archer, The history of the Haberdashers'Company
David Harris Sacks, The widening gate: Bristol and the Atlantic economy, 1450-1700
Beverly Lemire, Fashion's favourite: the cotton trade and the consumer in Britain, 1660-1800 .
Stanley Chapman, Merchant enterprise in Britain from the industrial revolution to World War I
Gerry Kearns and Charles W. J. Withers, eds., Urbanising Britain: essays on class and community in the nineteenth century
S. W. F. Holloway, The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, 1841-1991: a political and social history
Eleanor Gordon, Women and the labour movement in Scotland, 1850-1914
Chris Wrigley and John Shepherd, eds., On the move: essays in labour and transport history presented to Philip Bagwell
Derek Fraser, ed., Cities, class and communication: essays in honour of Asa Briggs
GENERAL
Judith Eisenberg Vichniac, The management of labor: the British and French iron industries, 1860-1918
Kenneth Moulé, Managing the franc Poincaré: economic understanding and political constraint in French monetary policy, 1928-1936
Anthony H. Galt, Far from the church bells: settlement and society in an Apulian town
Sheila Fitzpatrick, Alexander Rabinowitch, and Richard Stites, eds., Russia in the era of NEP: explorations in Soviet society and culture
James D. Tracy, ed., The political economy of merchant empires: state power and world trade, 1350-1750
Jonathan Barry and Colin Jones, eds., Medicine and charity before the welfare state
Rudolph J. Vecoli and Suzanne M. Sinke, eds., A century of European migrations, 1830-1930
Barbara L. Solow, ed., Slavery and the rise of the Atlantic system
Ira Berlin and Philip D. Morgan, eds., The slaves'economy: independent production by slaves in the Americas     

跨文化交际与大学英语教学

实现跨文化交际是英语教学的根本目的。在经济全球化的今天,学生的跨文化交际能力显得尤为重要。本文尝试从中西文化差异表现、跨文化交际在英语教学中的重要性和在教学中实现跨文化交际的路径等三个层次论述跨文化交际与大学英语教学之间的互动关系,旨在剖析跨文化交际能力的内涵,提高学生的英语交际能力,从而更好地实现英语教学目的。