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An unlevel playing field: national income estimates and reciprocal comparison in global economic history

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  • Jerven, Morten

Abstract

If we take recent income per capita estimates at face value, they imply that the average medieval European was at least five times ‘better off’ than the average Congolese today. This raises important questions regarding the meaning and applicability of national income estimates throughout time and space, and their use in the analysis of global economic history over the long term. This article asks whether national income estimates have a historical and geographical specificity that renders the ‘data’ increasingly unsuitable and misleading when assessed outside a specific time and place. Taking the concept of ‘reciprocal comparison’ as a starting point, it further questions whether national income estimates make sense in pre-and post-industrial societies, in decentralized societies, and in polities outside the temperate zone. One of the major challenges in global history is Eurocentrism. Resisting the temptation to compare the world according to the most conventional development measure might be a recommended step in overcoming this bias.

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  • Jerven, Morten, 2012. "An unlevel playing field: national income estimates and reciprocal comparison in global economic history," Journal of Global History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(1), pages 107-128, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jglhis:v:7:y:2012:i:01:p:107-128_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Thomas T. Hills & Eugenio Proto & Daniel Sgroi & Chanuki Illushka Seresinhe, 2019. "Historical analysis of national subjective wellbeing using millions of digitized books," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 3(12), pages 1271-1275, December.
    2. Jerven, Morten & Austin, Gareth & Green, Erik & Uche, Chibuike & Frankema, Ewout & Fourie, Johan & Inikori, Joseph & Moradi, Alexander & Hillbom, Ellen, 2012. "Moving Forward in African Economic History. Bridging the Gap Between Methods and Sources," Lund Papers in Economic History 124, Lund University, Department of Economic History.
    3. Morten Jerven, 2014. "African Growth Miracle or Statistical Tragedy?: Interpreting Trends in the Data Over the Past Two Decades," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-114, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Broadberry, Stephen & Gardner, Leigh, 2016. "Economic Development In Africa And Europe: Reciprocal Comparisons," Revista de Historia Económica / Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 34(1), pages 11-37, March.
    5. Jerven, Morten, 2016. "Discrepancies: Why Do GDP Growth Rates Differ?," Review of Agrarian Studies, Foundation for Agrarian Studies, vol. 6(1), July.
    6. repec:cte:whrepe:wp12-11 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Jerven, Morten, 2014. "African growth miracle or statistical tragedy? Interpreting trends in the data over the past two decades," WIDER Working Paper Series 114, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. Jerven, Morten, 2019. "African Economic Growth 1900-50: Historical National Accounts for British Colonial Africa," African Economic History Working Paper 50/2019, African Economic History Network.
    9. Victor Court & Florent Mc Isaac, 2019. "A Representation of the World Population Dynamics for Integrated Assessment Models," Working Papers hal-03192539, HAL.
    10. Deng, Kent & O'Brien, Patrick, 2021. "The Kuznetsian paradigm for the study of modern economic history and the Great Divergence with appendices of literature review and statistical data," Economic History Working Papers 108563, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    11. Cheng, Cindy & Messerschmidt, Luca & Bravo, Isaac & Waldbauer, Marco & Bhavikatti, Rohan & Schenk, Caress & Grujic, Vanja & Model, Tim & Kubinec, Robert & Barceló, Joan, 2023. "A General Guide for Harmonizing Data," OSF Preprints baf2j, Center for Open Science.
    12. Morten Jerven, 2014. "A West African experiment: constructing a GDP series for colonial Ghana, 1891–1950," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 67(4), pages 964-992, November.
    13. Deng, Kent & O’Brien, Patrick Karl, 2016. "China’s GDP per capita from the Han Dynasty to communist times," Economic History Working Papers 64857, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    14. Jacob Assa & Ingrid H. Kvangraven, 2018. "Imputing Away the Ladder: Implications of Changes in National Accounting Standards for Assessing Inter-country Inequalities," Working Papers 1813, New School for Social Research, Department of Economics.
    15. Kent Deng & Patrick Karl O’Brien, 2014. "Creative Destruction: Chinese GDP per capita from the Han Dynasty to Modern Times," Working Papers 0063, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    16. Court Victor & Florent Mc Isaac, 2019. "A Representation of the World Population Dynamics for Integrated Assessment Models," Working Papers hal-03192539, HAL.

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