IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehs/wpaper/13013.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Opening to the East: shipping between Europe and Asia, 1770-1830

Author

Listed:
  • Peter Solar

    (Vesalius College)

Abstract

"Shipping costs between Europe and Asia were reduced by two-thirds between the 1770s and the 1820s. Copper sheathing and other technical improvements which allowed ships to make more frequent voyages over longer lifetimes accounted for part of the cost reduction. British hegemony in the Indian Ocean, which ended an eighteenth-century arms race, accounted for the rest by allowing the substitution of smaller ships which cost less to build and required fewer men per ton. These changes were at least as important as the elimination of monopoly profits in narrowing intercontinental price differentials during the early nineteenth century."

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Solar, 2013. "Opening to the East: shipping between Europe and Asia, 1770-1830," Working Papers 13013, Economic History Society.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehs:wpaper:13013
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ehs.org.uk/dotAsset/b02a89e3-b0cf-4689-95e1-892682f725da.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. O’Rourke, Kevin H. & Williamson, Jeffrey G., 2002. "When did globalisation begin?," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(1), pages 23-50, April.
    2. Harley, C. Knick, 1988. "Ocean Freight Rates And Productivity, 1740-1913: The Primacy Of Mechanical Invention Reaffirmed," University of Western Ontario, Departmental Research Report Series 8802, University of Western Ontario, Department of Economics.
    3. Carlos, Ann M. & Nicholas, Stephen, 1988. "“Giants of an Earlier Capitalism†: The Chartered Trading Companies as Modern Multinationals," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 62(3), pages 398-419, October.
    4. Hillmann, Henning & Gathmann, Christina, 2011. "Overseas Trade and the Decline of Privateering," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 71(3), pages 730-761, September.
    5. Jan De Vries, 2010. "The limits of globalization in the early modern world," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 63(3), pages 710-733, August.
    6. Allen, Robert C., 2009. "Engels' pause: Technical change, capital accumulation, and inequality in the british industrial revolution," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 418-435, October.
    7. Harley, C. Knick, 1988. "Ocean Freight Rates and Productivity, 1740–1913: The Primacy of Mechanical Invention Reaffirmed," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 48(4), pages 851-876, December.
    8. Jones, S. R. H. & Ville, Simon P., 1996. "Efficient Transactors or Rent-Seeking Monopolists? The Rationale for Early Chartered Trading Companies," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 56(04), pages 898-915, December.
    9. J. R. Harris, 1966. "Copper and Shipping in the Eighteenth Century," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 19(3), pages 550-568, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Peter M. Solar & Klas Rönnbäck, 2015. "Copper sheathing and the British slave trade," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 68(3), pages 806-829, August.
    2. Morgan Kelly & Cormac Ó Gráda, 2014. "Speed under Sail, 1750-1850," Working Papers 201410, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    3. Pascali, Luigi & Miotto, Martina, 2022. "Solving the longitude puzzle: A story of clocks, ships and cities," CEPR Discussion Papers 17037, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Cormac Ó Gráda, 2016. "Did Science Cause the Industrial Revolution?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(1), pages 224-239, March.
    5. Morgan Kelly & Cormac Ó Gráda, 2017. "Technological Dynamism in a Stagnant Sector: Safety at Sea during the Early Industrial Revolution," Working Papers 201711, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    6. Kelly, Morgan & Gráda, Cormac Ó & Solar, Peter, 2019. "Safety at Sea during the Industrial Revolution," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 439, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    7. Chilosi, David & Federico, Giovanni, 2015. "Early globalizations: The integration of Asia in the world economy, 1800–1938," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 1-18.
    8. Kelly, Morgan & Ó Gráda, Cormac & Solar, Peter M., 2021. "Safety at Sea during the Industrial Revolution," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 81(1), pages 239-275, March.
    9. Dan Bogart & Oliver Dunn & Eduard J. Alvarez‐Palau & Leigh Shaw‐Taylor, 2021. "Speedier delivery: coastal shipping times and speeds during the Age of Sail," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 74(1), pages 87-114, February.
    10. Kelly, Morgan & Ó Gráda, Cormac, 2018. "Speed under Sail during the Early Industrial Revolution," CEPR Discussion Papers 12576, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Michel Fouquin & Jules Hugot, 2016. "Back to the Future: International Trade Costs and the Two Globalizations," Vniversitas Económica 15130, Universidad Javeriana - Bogotá.
    12. Bruno Damásio & Sandro Mendonça, 2018. "Modeling insurgent-incumbent dynamics: Vector autoregressions,multivariate Markov chains, and the nature of technological competition," Working Papers REM 2018/44, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, REM, Universidade de Lisboa.
    13. Morgan Kelly & Cormac Ó Gráda, 2017. "Speed under Sail, 1750–1830," Working Papers 201710, School of Economics, University College Dublin.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Manuel Llorca-Jaña, 2014. "The impact of early nineteenth-century globalization on foreign trade in the Southern Cone: A study of British trade statistics," Investigaciones de Historia Económica - Economic History Research (IHE-EHR), Journal of the Spanish Economic History Association, Asociación Española de Historia Económica, vol. 10(01), pages 46-56.
    2. Peter M. Solar & Klas Rönnbäck, 2015. "Copper sheathing and the British slave trade," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 68(3), pages 806-829, August.
    3. Chilosi, David & Federico, Giovanni, 2015. "Early globalizations: The integration of Asia in the world economy, 1800–1938," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 1-18.
    4. Kevin H. O'Rourke & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2002. "From Malthus to Ohlin: Trade, Growth and Distribution Since 1500," CEG Working Papers 20023, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics.
    5. Kelly, Morgan & Ó Gráda, Cormac, 2018. "Speed under Sail during the Early Industrial Revolution," CEPR Discussion Papers 12576, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Aguirre, Alvaro, 2019. "Rebellions, Technical Change, and the Early Development of Political Institutions in Latin America," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 65-89.
    7. Morgan Kelly & Cormac Ó Gráda, 2014. "Speed under Sail, 1750-1850," Working Papers 201410, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    8. Francis, Joseph A., 2014. "The Periphery’s Terms of Trade in the Nineteenth Century: A Methodological Problem Revisited," MPRA Paper 57934, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Mendonça, Sandro, 2013. "The “sailing ship effect”: Reassessing history as a source of insight on technical change," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(10), pages 1724-1738.
    10. Morgan Kelly & Cormac Ó Gráda, 2017. "Speed under Sail, 1750–1830," Working Papers 201710, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    11. Glaser, Darrell J. & Rahman, Ahmed S., 2016. "Ex Tridenti Mercatus? Sea-power and maritime trade in the age of globalization," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 95-111.
    12. Giovanni Federico, 2011. "A Tale of Two Oceans: Market Integration Over the High Seas, 1800-1940," Working Papers 0011, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    13. Gary Spraakman & Julie Margret, 2005. "The transfer of management accounting practices from London counting houses to the British North American fur trade," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 101-119.
    14. Pierre Van Der Eng, 2004. "Productivity and Comparative Advantage in Rice Agriculture in South‐East Asia Since 1870," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 18(4), pages 345-370, December.
    15. David S. Jacks & Martin Stuermer, 2021. "Dry bulk shipping and the evolution of maritime transport costs, 1850–2020," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(2), pages 204-227, July.
    16. Michel Fouquin & Jules Hugot, 2016. "Back to the Future: International Trade Costs and the Two Globalizations," Vniversitas Económica 15130, Universidad Javeriana - Bogotá.
    17. Meissner, Christopher M., 2014. "Growth from Globalization? A View from the Very Long Run," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 8, pages 1033-1069, Elsevier.
    18. Vincent Bignon & Cecilia Garcia-Peñalosa, 2018. "The Toll of Tariffs: Protectionism, Education and Fertility in Late 19th Century France," Working papers 690, Banque de France.
    19. Kevin H. O'Rourke & Jeffrey G. Williamson & T. J. Hatton, 1993. "Mass migration, commodity market integration and real wage convergence : the late nineteenth century Atlantic economy," Working Papers 199325, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    20. Kelly, Morgan & Ó Gráda, Cormac & Solar, Peter M., 2021. "Safety at Sea during the Industrial Revolution," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 81(1), pages 239-275, March.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • N00 - Economic History - - General - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ehs:wpaper:13013. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chair Public Engagement Committe (currently David Higgins - Newcastle) (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ehsukea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.