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Flowers of evil? Industrialization and long run development

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  • Franck, Raphaël
  • Galor, Oded

Abstract

Is industrialization conducive for economic development in the long-run? Exploiting exogenous variation in the diffusion of steam engines across 19th century France, the research suggests that early industrialization has had an adverse effect on long-run prosperity, stemming from the negative impact of the adoption of unskilled-labor-intensive technologies in early stages of industrialization on contemporary levels of human capital and thus the incentive to adopt skill-intensive technologies. The research suggests that characteristics that enabled the onset of industrialization, rather than industrial technology per se, have been the source of prosperity among developed economies that experienced earlier industrialization.

Suggested Citation

  • Franck, Raphaël & Galor, Oded, 2021. "Flowers of evil? Industrialization and long run development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 108-128.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:moneco:v:117:y:2021:i:c:p:108-128
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jmoneco.2019.12.001
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    Cited by:

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    3. Stephan Heblich & Marlon Seror & Hao Xu & Yanos Zylberberg, 2019. "Industrial clusters in the long run: evidence from Million-Rouble plants in China," CESifo Working Paper Series 7682, CESifo.
    4. Björn Brey, 2021. "The long-run gains from the early adoption of electricity," Discussion Papers 2021-05, University of Nottingham, GEP.
    5. Guillaume Blanc & Masahiro Kubo, 2023. "French," Economics Discussion Paper Series 2308, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    6. Stephan Heblich & David Krisztián Nagy & Alex Trew & Yanos Zylberberg, 2023. "The death and life of great British cities," Economics Working Papers 1867, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    7. Nina Boberg-Fazlic & Peter Sandholt Jensen & Markus Lampe & Paul Sharp & Christian Volmar Skovsgaard, 2023. "‘Getting to Denmark’: the role of agricultural elites for development," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 525-569, December.
    8. 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.
    9. Christoph Eder, 2022. "Missing Men: Second World War Casualties and Structural Change," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(354), pages 437-460, April.
    10. Muhammad Fikry Hadi & Muhammad Hidayat & Dwi Widiarsih & Neng Murialti, 2021. "The Role of Electricity and Energy Consumption Influences Industrial Development between Regions in Indonesia," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 11(3), pages 403-408.
    11. Elena Esposito & Scott F. Abramson, 2021. "The European coal curse," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 77-112, March.
    12. Berbée, Paul & Braun, Sebastian & Franke, Richard, 2022. "Reversing fortunes of German regions, 1926-2019: Boon and bane of early industrialization?," ZEW Discussion Papers 22-025, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    13. Franck, Raphaël & Asmus, Gerda, 2022. "State Capacity, National Economic Policies and Local Development: The Russian State in the Southern Urals," CEPR Discussion Papers 17103, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. Adrian Palacios-Mateo, 2023. "Education and household decision-making in Spanish mining communities, 1877–1924," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 17(2), pages 301-340, May.
    15. Marta C. N. Simões & Adelaide Duarte & João Sousa Andrade, 2019. "Human capital and productivity growth in a services economy: Some insights from the Portuguese case," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 511-534, July.
    16. Arnaud Deseau, 2023. "Land Reform and Productivity: Evidence from the Dissolution of the French Monasteries," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2023009, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic growth; Human capital; Industrialization; Steam engine; Cultural inertia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N33 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • N34 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: 1913-
    • O14 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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