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The Rise of Europe: Atlantic Trade, Institutioanl Change and Economic Growth

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Author Info
Acemoglu, Daron
Johnson, Simon H.
Robinson, James A.

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Abstract

This paper documents that the Rise of (Western) Europe between 1500 and 1850 is largely accounted for by the growth of European nations with access to the Atlantic, and especially by those nations that engaged in colonialism and long distance oceanic trade. Moreover, Atlantic ports grew much faster than other West European cities, including Mediterranean ports. Atlantic trade and colonialism affected Europe both directly, and indirectly by inducing institutional changes. In particular, the growth of New World, African, and Asian trade after 1500 strengthened new segments of the commercial bourgeoisie, and enabled these groups to demand, obtain, and sustain changes in institutions to protect their property rights. Furthermore, the most significant institutional changes and consequently the most substantial economic gains occurred in nations where existing institutions placed some checks on the monarchy and particularly limited its control of overseas trading activities, thus enabling new merchants in these countries to benefit from Atlantic trade. Therefore, the Rise of Europe was largely the result of capitalist development driven by the interaction of late medieval institutions and the economic opportunities offered by "Atlantic trade

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Paper provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management in its series Working papers with number 4269-02.

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Date of creation: 14 Apr 2003
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Handle: RePEc:mit:sloanp:1857

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Postal: MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (MIT), SLOAN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, 50 MEMORIAL DRIVE CAMBRIDGE MASSACHUSETTS 02142 USA

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Keywords: Capitalism Economic Growth Institutions Political Economy Social Coflict Trade

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert, 1999. "The Quality of Government," Journal of Law, Economics and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(1), pages 222-79, April.
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  2. Rajan, Raghuram G. & Zingales, Luigi, 2000. "The tyranny of inequality," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 521-558, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Daron Acemoglu & James A. Robinson, 2000. "Political Losers as a Barrier to Economic Development," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(2), pages 126-130, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. De Long, J Bradford & Shleifer, Andrei, 1993. "Princes and Merchants: European City Growth before the Industrial Revolution," Journal of Law & Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(2), pages 671-702, October.
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  5. Antonio Ciccone & Kiminori Matsuyama, 1999. "Efficiency and Equilibrium with Dynamic Increasing Aggregate Returns Due to Demand Complementarities," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 67(3), pages 499-526, May.
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  6. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson, 2001. "The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1369-1401, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Daron Acemoglu & James A. Robinson, 2002. "Economic Backwardness in Political Perspective," NBER Working Papers 8831, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Galor, Oded & Mountford, Andrew, 2002. "Why are a Third of People Indian and Chinese? Trade, Industrialization and Demographic Transition," CEPR Discussion Papers 3136, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James Robinson, 2002. "The Rise of Europe: Atlantic Trade, Institutional Change and Economic Growth," NBER Working Papers 9378, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Stephen L. Parente & Edward C. Prescott, 1999. "Monopoly Rights: A Barrier to Riches," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(5), pages 1216-1233, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Zilibotti, Fabrizio, 1995. "A Rostovian model of endogenous growth and underdevelopment traps," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(8), pages 1569-1602, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Tim Leunig, 1998. "New Answers to Old Questions: Transport Costs and the Slow Adoption of Ring Spinning in Lancashire," Oxford University Economic and Social History Series _022, Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford. [Downloadable!]
  14. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson, 2002. "Reversal Of Fortune: Geography And Institutions In The Making Of The Modern World Income Distribution," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 117(4), pages 1231-1294, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Maarten Bosker & Steven Brakman & Harry Garretsen & Herman de Jong & Marc Schramm, 2007. "The Development of Cities in Italy 1300 – 1861," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo GmbH. [Downloadable!]
  2. Sambit Bhattacharyya, 2007. "Root Causes of African Underdevelopment," Working Papers in Economics and Development Studies (WoPEDS) 200704, Department of Economics, Padjadjaran University, revised Apr 2007. [Downloadable!]
  3. Jörg Baten & Jan Luiten van Zanden, 2007. "Book Production and the Onset of Modern Economic Growth," Economics Working Papers 1030, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. [Downloadable!]
  4. Hazama, Yasushi, 2008. "The Political Economy of Growth: A Review," IDE Discussion Papers 141, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO). [Downloadable!]
  5. Hun-Chang Lee, 2007. "The Political Economy of Pre-industrial Trade in Northeast Asia," Hi-Stat Discussion Paper Series d07-219, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University. [Downloadable!]
  6. Guido Tabellini, . "Culture and Institutions: economic development in the regions of Europe," Working Papers 292, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Broadberry, Stephen, 2007. "Recent Developments In The Theory Of Very Long Run Growth : A Historical Appraisal," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 818, University of Warwick, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  8. Akçomak, I. Semih & ter Weel, Bas, 2008. "Social Capital, Innovation and Growth: Evidence from Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 3341, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  9. Keller, Wolfgang & Shiue, Carol Hua, 2004. "Market Integration and Economic Development: A Long-Run Comparison," CEPR Discussion Papers 4310, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Mwangi S. Kimenyi, 2006. "The Demand for Power Diffusion: A Case Study of the 2005 Constitutional Referendum Voting in Kenya," Working papers 2006-11, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  11. Robert C. Allen, 2007. "How Prosperous were the Romans? Evidence from Diocletian's Price Edict (301 AD)," Economics Series Working Papers 363, University of Oxford, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  12. Oded_Galor & Andrew Mountford, 2004. "Trading Population for Productivity," Working Papers 2004-16, Brown University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  13. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James Robinson, 2005. "The Rise of Europe: Atlantic Trade, Institutional Change, and Economic Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(3), pages 546-579, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Do, Quy-Toan & Levchenko, Andrei A., 2006. "Trade, inequality, and the political economy of institutions," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3836, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  15. Sambit Bhattacharyya & Steve Dowrick & Jane Golley, 2007. "Institutions and Trade: Competitors or Complements in Economic Development?," DEGIT Conference Papers c012_005, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade. [Downloadable!]
  16. Guido Tabellini, 2007. "Culture and Institutions: Economic Development in the Regions of Europe," Levine's Working Paper Archive 321307000000000974, UCLA Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  17. Guido Tabellini, . "Institutions and Culture," Working Papers 330, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University. [Downloadable!]
  18. Nathan Nunn & Daniel Trefler, 2006. "Putting the Lid on Lobbying: Tariff Structure and Long-Term Growth when Protection is for Sale," NBER Working Papers 12164, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Broadberry, Stephen & Ghosal, Sayantan & Proto, Eugenio, 2008. "Commercialisation, Factor Prices and Technological Progress in the Transition to Modern Economic Growth," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 852, University of Warwick, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  20. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James Robinson & Yunyong Thaicharoen, 2002. "Institutional Causes, Macroeconomic Symptoms: Volatility, Crises and Growth," NBER Working Papers 9124, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  21. Yamin Ahmad & Pietro Cova & Rodrigo Harrison, 2004. "Foreign Direct Investment versus Portfolio Investment : A Global Games Approach," Working Papers 05-03, UW-Whitewater, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  22. Olsson, Ola, 2003. "Geography and Institutions: A Review of Plausible and Implausible Linkages," Working Papers in Economics 106, Göteborg University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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