Global Disparities Since 1800:Trends and Regional Patterns

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Global Disparities Since 1800:Trends and Regional Patterns

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Alam, M. Shahid

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M. Shahid Alam

Abstract

This paper reviews the growing body of evidence on the relative economic standing of different regions of the world in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In general, it does not find support for Eurocentric claims regarding Western Europe’s early economic lead. The Eurocentric claims are based primarily on estimates of a per capita income, which are plagued by conceptual problems, make demands on historical data that are generally unavailable, and they use questionable assumptions to reconstruct early per capita income. A careful examination of these conjectural estimates of per capita income, however, does not support claims that Western Europe had a substantial lead over the rest of the world at the beginning of the nineteenth century. An examination of several alternative indices of living standards in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries – such as real wages, labor productivity in agriculture, and urbanization – also fails to confirm claims of European superiority. In addition, this paper examines the progress of global disparities – including the presence of regional patterns – using estimates of per capita income.

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Paper provided by University Library of Munich, Germany in its series MPRA Paper with number 1289.

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Date of creation: 31 Dec 2006
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Publication status: Published in Journal of World-Systems Research 1.12(2006): pp. 36-59
Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:1289

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
O11 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
N17 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Growth and Fluctuations - - - Africa; Oceania
N0 - Economic History - - General
F54 - International Economics - - International Relations and International Political Economy - - - Colonialism; Imperialism; Postcolonialism
O40 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General
N14 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Growth and Fluctuations - - - Europe: 1913-
N16 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Growth and Fluctuations - - - Latin America; Caribbean
N15 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Growth and Fluctuations - - - Asia including Middle East
N13 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Growth and Fluctuations - - - Europe: Pre-1913
N10 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Growth and Fluctuations - - - General, International, or Comparative

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

NEP-ALL-2007-01-14 (All new papers)
NEP-GEO-2007-01-14 (Economic Geography)
NEP-HIS-2007-01-14 (Business, Economic & Financial History)

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