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After Columbus: Explaining the Global Trade Boom 1500-1800

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Author Info
Kevin H. O'Rourke
Jeffrey G. Williamson

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Abstract

This paper documents the size and timing of the world inter-continental trade boom following the great voyages in the 1490s of Columbus, da Gama and their followers. Indeed, a trade boom followed over the subsequent three centuries. But what was its cause? The conventional wisdom in the world history literature offers globalization as the answer: it alleges that declining trade barriers, falling transport costs and overseas 'discovery' explains the boom. In contrast, this paper reports the evidence that confirms unambiguously that there was no commodity price convergence between continents, something that would have emerged had globalization been a force that mattered. Thus, the trade boom must have been caused by some combination of European import demand and foreign export supply from Asia and the Americas. Furthermore, the behavior of the relative price of foreign importables in European cities should tell us which mattered most and when. We offer detailed evidence on the relative prices of such importables in European markets over the five centuries1350-1850. We then offer a model which is used to decompose the sources of the trade boom 1500-1800.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 8186.

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Date of creation: Mar 2001
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:8186

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Country and Industry Studies of Trade
N7 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services

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  1. repec:tcd:wpaper:tep9 is not listed on IDEAS
  2. K. H. O'Rourke, 2001. "Globalization and Inequality: Historical Trends," CEG Working Papers 20015, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  3. Guillaume Daudin & Kevin H. O’Rourke & Leandro Prados de la Escosura, 2008. "Trade and Empire, 1700-1870," Documents de Travail de l'OFCE 2008-24, Observatoire Francais des Conjonctures Economiques (OFCE). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Kevin O'Rourke, 2005. "The worldwide economic impact of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars," Trinity Economics Papers 200059, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Cordoba, Juan-Carlos, 2007. "Malthus to Romer: On the Colonial Origins of the Industrial Revolution," MPRA Paper 4466, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  6. O'Rourke, Kevin H & Rahman, Ahmed & Taylor, Alan M, 2007. "Trade, Knowledge, and the Industrial Revolution," CEPR Discussion Papers 6293, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Acemoglu, Daron & Johnson, Simon H. & Robinson, James A., 2003. "The Rise of Europe: Atlantic Trade, Institutioanl Change and Economic Growth," Working papers 4269-02, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management. [Downloadable!]
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  8. Kevin H.O'Rourke, 2006. "War and Welfare: Britain, France and the United States 1807-14," The Institute for International Integration Studies Discussion Paper Series iiisdp119, IIIS. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Peter H. Lindert & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2002. "Mondialisation et inégalité : une longue histoire," Revue d’économie du développement, De Boeck Université, vol. 16(1), pages 7-41. [Downloadable!]
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