Week 1: Before Growth Began

Question 1

Economic growth?

Answer 1

-measured in GDP per capita growth
-must be sustained

Question 2

Extensive growth?

Answer 2

• a rise in inputs (more people/land) causing a rise in output (not modern econ growth)
• rather than productivity

Question 3

Intensive growth?

Answer 3

• a rise in output caused by a rise in productivity not a rise in inputs

Question 4

Smithian growth?

Answer 4

-economic growth driven by increased specialization and division of labour
-urbanisation can be a proxy for Smithian specialisation

Question 5

How can productivity rise?

Answer 5

-Division of labour (Smithian Growth)
-Technological innovation
-Better management

Question 6

Grain wage?

Answer 6

-type of PPP
-wage expressed as the amount of grain (wheat, rice) you could buy

Question 7

Malthusian trap?

Answer 7

-Population growth “uses up” income growth, so that incomes per person fall back to subsistence

Question 8

Path Dependency?

Answer 8

-Today is determined by yesterday ​

-GDP is path dependent, especially in the short run​

-Technology can be path dependent​

-Shocks can change the path a country or technology are on (war, famine…)​

Question 9

The Great Divergence?

Answer 9

Economic growth started in England, and it, its neighbours and offshoots, remained ahead for many years​

Question 10

Was the economic leaders determined by path dependence?

Answer 10

No
-Areas that had the Neolithic revolution first are poorer today​ (Olsen and Paik)

Question 11

Neolithic revolution?

Answer 11

-the first economic revolution
-the Neolithic transformation from hunter-gather to settled agriculture​
-5000 years between Israel etc and UK​

Question 12

Examples of Chinese wealth?

Answer 12

-1400 China far ahead
-The Ming Voyages as an example of Chinese prowess
-No European equivalent

Question 13

Info on 7 Ming Voyages?

Answer 13

-To India and east coast of Africa
-3500 ships

Question 14

So what happens to China?

Answer 14

-The Ming dynasty turns inwards​ (policy of isolation)

-Forbidden City building cost (cf European Cathedrals built only in good times, Buringh)​

-Bad harvests, flooding​

-Threat of Mongols​

-They destroy their fleet in 1525: lost the technical know-how​

-Internal grain trade falls after 1750

Question 15

Who says churches are only built in good times?

Answer 15

-Burnigh
-China built forbidden city which diverted resources away from other critical sectors, contributing to economic stagnation.

Question 16

In 1800, how can we compare Yangtze delta vs England reasons?

Answer 16

-agriculture output per worker is close to the same
-crops
-marriage and fertility rate
-No demographic transition

Question 17

Crops in the context of Yangtze delta vs England?

Answer 17

-In the Yangtze Delta, rice cultivation achieved higher land productivity but lower labor productivity due to its labor-intensive nature, driven by dense populations.

-In England, oat cultivation relied on land and mechanization, achieving higher labor productivity but lower land productivity.

Question 18

Marriage and fertility in the context of Yangtze delta vs England?

Answer 18

-marriage patterns and fertility rates were influenced by economic and agricultural factors, with rice cultivation encouraging larger families due to labor demands, whereas wheat cultivation did not create the same incentive.

-In China families had a around 8 children on average
-In England high age of marriage

Question 19

How does no demographic transition effect China?

Answer 19

Very large families bad for economic growth​

Malthusian trap still applies in China​

Makes them vulnerable to famine​

Areas with enough grain reluctant to trade – no resilience​

Question 20

Voth and Voigtländer 2013?

Answer 20

The Black Death caused a reversion to pastoral agriculture in England

-Women have
a Comparative Advantage in pastoral agriculture
as it is less reliant on brute strength

• Women’s bargaining power in the marriage market increased

-Marriage ages rise, never-married props increase

-Opportunity Cost of children rises, Fertility mechanically
declines
Income grows and the West Rises

Question 21

What does Clark argue about being better off and divergence with China?

Answer 21

-average person in 1800 was likely no better off, and potentially worse off, than their Stone Age ancestors.

-High fertility rates among the wealthy in England compared to China, A transfer of skills, capital, and resources to future generations.
Greater economic mobility and increased chances of wealthier descendants driving innovation and productivity improvements.

Question 22

What does Clark argue about being England’s divergence?

Answer 22

Institutional stability, (private property)

Demographic changes

Increased innovation, driven not by greater rewards but by a greater supply of innovations.

Access to resources, Britain = ‘Workshop of the World’

Question 23

What does Court reason caused the great divergence?

Answer 23

-Religion (he Protestant Reformation, influenced human capital accumulation, governance, and social ethics)

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State Capacity: The fragmented political landscape of Europe, characterized by competition between states, led to advancements in military technology and fiscal innovations