An Economic History of Europe Knowledge Institutions and Growth 600 to the Present 2nd Edition Karl Gunnar Persson, Paul Sharp 1107095565 9781107095564

1 The making of Europe

1.1 The geo-economic continuity of Europe

1.2 Europe trades, therefore it is!

1.3 The limits of geographical integration

1.4 From geo-economics to geo-politics: the European Union

Summary

2 Europe from obscurity to economic recovery

2.1 Light in the Dark Ages

2.2 Gains from division of labour: Adam Smith revisited

2.3 Division of labour is constrained by insufficient demand

2.4 Division of labour promotes technological change

2.5 After the post-Roman crisis: the economic renaissance of the ninth to fifteenth centuries

2.6 Population

2.7 The restoration of a monetary system

2.8 Transport and trade routes

2.9 Urbanization

2.10 Production and technology

Summary

3 Population, economic growth and resource constraints

3.1 Historical trends in population growth

3.2 The Malthusian theory of population growth and stagnation

3.3 Is the Malthusian theory testable?

3.4 The secrets of agricultural progress

Reference

3.5 Understanding fertility strategies

3.6 The demographic transition

Summary

4 The nature and extent of economic growth in the pre-industrial epoch

4.1 Understanding pre-industrial growth

4.2 Accounting for pre-industrial productivity growth

4.3 Wages and income distribution

4.4 The Great Divergence: when did Europe forge ahead?

Summary

5 Institutions and growth

5.1 Institutions and efficiency

5.2 The peculiarity of institutional explanations

5.3 The characteristics of a modern economy

Reference

5.4 Market performance in history

5.5 The evolution of land and labour markets: the rise and decline of serfdom

5.6 Firms and farms

5.7 Co-operatives and hold-up

5.8 Contracts, risks and contract enforcement

5.9 Asymmetric information, reputation and self-enforcing contracts

Summary

6 Knowledge, technology transfer and convergence

6.1 Industrial Revolution, Industrious Revolution and Industrial Enlightenment

6.2 Science and entrepreneurship

6.3 The impact of new knowledge: brains replace muscles

(i)–(ii) Saving resources and lessening natural constraints

(iii) Quality improvement (and quality differentiation)

(iv) New products and production processes

(v) Widening the resource base

6.4 The lasting impact of nineteenth-century discoveries and twentieth-century accomplishments

6.5 Technology transfer and catch-up

6.5.1 Why was Germany a late industrial nation … and why did it grow faster than Britain once it started to grow?

6.5.2 Human and capital investment

6.5.3 Research and Development

6.5.4 Industrial relations

6.6 Convergence in the long run: three stories

6.7 Why is Europe not closing the income and productivity gap relative to the US economy?

Summary

7 Money, credit and banking

7.1 The origins of money

7.2 The revival of the monetary system in Europe: coins and bills of exchange

7.3 Usury and interest rates in the long run

7.4 The emergence of paper money

7.5 What do banks do?

7.6 The impact of banks on economic growth

7.7 Banks versus stock markets

7.8 Reflections on recent financial crises

Summary

8 Trade, tariffs and growth

8.1 The comparative advantage argument for free trade and its consequences

8.2 Trade patterns in history: the difference between nineteenth and twentieth century trade

8.3 Trade policy and growth

8.4 Lessons from history

8.4.1 From mercantilism to free trade

8.4.2 The disintegration of international trade in the interwar period

8.4.3 The restoration of the free trade regime after the Second World War

8.4.4 Tariffs and growth

Summary

9 International monetary regimes in history

9.1 Why is an international monetary system necessary?

9.2 How do policymakers choose the international monetary regime?

9.3 International monetary regimes in history

9.3.1 The International Gold Standard .1870–1914

9.3.2 The interwar years

9.3.3 The Bretton Woods System

9.3.4 The world of floating exchange rates

9.3.5 The Eurozone Crisis in the light of the historical experience

9.4 Summary

10 The era of political economy: from the minimal state to the Welfare State in the twentieth century

10.1 Economy and politics at the close of the nineteenth century

10.2 The long farewell to economic orthodoxy: the response to the Great Depression

10.3 Successes and failures of macroeconomic management in the second half of the twentieth century: from full employment to inflation targeting

10.4 Have austerity policies worked in recent history?

10.5 Karl Marx’s trap: the rise and fall of the socialist economies in Europe

10.6 A market failure theory of the Welfare State

Summary

11 Inequality among and within nations: past, present, future

11.1 Why is there inequality?

11.2 Measuring inequality

References

11.3 Gender inequality

11.4 Is inequality on the rise again?

11.5 World income distribution

11.6 Towards a broader concept of welfare

11.7 Speculations about future trends in world income inequality

Summary

12 Globalization and its challenge to Europe

12.1 Globalization and the law of one price

12.2 What drives globalization?

12.3 The phases of globalization

12.3.1 Capital markets

12.3.2 Commodity markets

12.3.3 Labour markets

12.4 Globalization and divergence

12.5 Globalization backlash: three cases

12.5.1 Trade openness and migration

12.5.2 The retreat from the world economy

12.5.3 The tale of the twin farm protests