Mass Migration, Commodity Market Integration, and Real Wage Convergence

Mass Migration, Commodity Market Integration, and Real Wage Convergence PDF Author: Jeffrey G. Williamson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Europe
Languages : en
Pages : 68

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Book Description
As part of a process that has been at work since 1850, real wages among the current OECD countries converged during the late 19th century. The convergence was pronounced as that which we have seen in the post World War Il period. This paper uses computable general equilibrium models to isolate the sources of that economic convergence by assessing the relative performance of the two most important economies in the Old World and the New -- Britain and the USA. It turns out that between 1870 and 1910, the convergence forces that mattered were those that generated by commodity price convergence, stresses by Eli Heckscher and Bertil Ohlin, and mass migration, stressed by Knut Wicksell. It turns out that offsetting forces were contributing to late 19th century divergence, a finding consistent with economic historians' traditional attention to Britain's alleged failure and America's spectacular rise to industrial supremacy. The convergence forces, however, dominated for most of the period.

Mass Migration, Commodity Market Integration, and Real Wage Convergence

Mass Migration, Commodity Market Integration, and Real Wage Convergence PDF Author: Jeffrey G. Williamson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Europe
Languages : en
Pages : 68

Get Book

Book Description
As part of a process that has been at work since 1850, real wages among the current OECD countries converged during the late 19th century. The convergence was pronounced as that which we have seen in the post World War Il period. This paper uses computable general equilibrium models to isolate the sources of that economic convergence by assessing the relative performance of the two most important economies in the Old World and the New -- Britain and the USA. It turns out that between 1870 and 1910, the convergence forces that mattered were those that generated by commodity price convergence, stresses by Eli Heckscher and Bertil Ohlin, and mass migration, stressed by Knut Wicksell. It turns out that offsetting forces were contributing to late 19th century divergence, a finding consistent with economic historians' traditional attention to Britain's alleged failure and America's spectacular rise to industrial supremacy. The convergence forces, however, dominated for most of the period.

Mediterranean Labor Markets in the First Age of Globalization

Mediterranean Labor Markets in the First Age of Globalization PDF Author: Paul Caruana Galizia
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137400846
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 197

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Book Description
Scholars have studied the nineteenth century's unprecedented labor flows in global and specific country contexts, but have lacked a comprehensive analysis of the world's old economic core, the Mediterranean. This work provides answers to important questions, such as: If the Mediterranean labor market really was integrated, then why did globalization affect the Western and Eastern Mediterranean so differently? Why did wage inequality rise in the East while it fell in the rest of the labor-abundant periphery? More broadly, was low emigration from Iberia and the East to blame for the Mediterranean's failed integration with the fast-expanding global economy? This ground-breaking research relates these questions to ongoing historical debates on the intensity of intra-Mediterranean integration in goods and labor, to current heated debates on North African emigration to Europe, and to discussions on European economic integration more generally.

Globalization and History

Globalization and History PDF Author: Kevin H. O'Rourke
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262650595
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description
Kevin O'Rourke and Jeffrey Williamson present a coherent picture of trade, migration, and international capital flows in the Atlantic economy in the century prior to 1914—the first great globalization boom, which anticipated the experience of the last fifty years. Globalization is not a new phenomenon, nor is it irreversible. In Gobalization and History, Kevin O'Rourke and Jeffrey Williamson present a coherent picture of trade, migration, and international capital flows in the Atlantic economy in the century prior to 1914—the first great globalization boom, which anticipated the experience of the last fifty years. The authors estimate the extent of globalization and its impact on the participating countries, and discuss the political reactions that it provoked. The book's originality lies in its application of the tools of open-economy economics to this critical historical period—differentiating it from most previous work, which has been based on closed-economy or single-sector models. The authors also keep a close eye on globalization debates of the 1990s, using history to inform the present and vice versa. The book brings together research conducted by the authors over the past decade—work that has profoundly influenced how economic history is now written and that has found audiences in economics and history, as well as in the popular press.

Convergence in the Age of Mass Migration

Convergence in the Age of Mass Migration PDF Author: Alan M. Taylor
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Economic development
Languages : en
Pages : 68

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Book Description
Between 1870 and 1913, economic convergence among present OECD members (or even a wider sample of countries) was dramatic, about as dramatic as it has been over the past century and a half. The convergence can be documented in GDP per worker-hour, GDP per capita and in real wages. What were the sources of the convergence? One prime candidate is mass migration. In the absence of quotas, this was a period of open international migration, and the numbers who elected to move were enormous. If international migration is ever to play a role in contributing to convergence, the pre-quota period surely should be it. This paper offers some estimates which suggest that migration could account for very large shares of the convergence in GDP per worker and real wages, though a much smaller share in GDP per capita. One might conclude, therefore, that the interwar cessation of convergence could be partially explained by the imposition of quotas and other barriers to migration. The paper concludes with caution as it enumerates the possible offsets to the mass migration impact which our partial equilibrium analysis ignores, and with the plea that convergence models pay more attention to open-economy forces.

Migration and the International Labor Market 1850-1939

Migration and the International Labor Market 1850-1939 PDF Author: Tim Hatton
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113484137X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
Migration and the International Labor Market 1850-1939 focuses on the economic aspects of international migration during the era of mass migrations.

The New Comparative Economic History

The New Comparative Economic History PDF Author: T. J. Hatton
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262083612
Category : Economic history
Languages : en
Pages : 431

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Book Description
Essays by internationally prominent economists examine long run cross-country economic trends from the perspective of New Comparative Economic History, an approach pioneered by Harvard economist Jeffrey G. Williamson. The innovative approach to economic history known as the New Comparative Economic History represents a distinct change in the way that many economic historians view their role, do their work, and interact with the broader economics profession. The New Comparative Economic History reflects a belief that economic processes can best be understood by systematically comparing experiences across time, regions, and, above all, countries. It is motivated by current questions that are not nation specific--the sources of economic growth, the importance of institutions, and the impact of globalization--and focuses on long-run trends rather than short-run ups and downs in economic activity. The essays in this volume offer a New Economic Comparative History perspective on a range of topics and are written in honor of Jeffrey G. Williamson, the most distinguished and influential scholar in the field. The contributors, prominent American and European economists, consider such topics as migration, education, and wage convergence; democracy and protectionism in the nineteenth century; trade and immigration policies in labor-scarce economies; and the effect of institutions on European productivity and jobs.

Around the European Periphery 1870-1913

Around the European Periphery 1870-1913 PDF Author: Kevin H. O'Rourke
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Economic development
Languages : en
Pages : 84

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Book Description
On average, the poor European periphery converged on the rich industrial core in the four or five decades prior to World War I. Some, like the three Scandinavian economies, used industrialization to achieve a spectacular convergence on the leaders, especially in real wages and living standards. Some, like Ireland, seemed to do it without industrialization. Some, like Italy, underwent less spectacular catch-up, and it was limited to the industrializing North. Some, like Iberia, actually fell back. What accounts for this variety? What role did trade and tariff policy play? What about emigration and capital flows? What about schooling? We offer a tentative assessment of these contending explanations and conclude that globalization was by far the dominant force accounting for convergence (and divergence) around the periphery. Some exploited it well, and some badly.

The Age of Mass Migration

The Age of Mass Migration PDF Author: T. J. Hatton
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195116518
Category : Alien labor
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
Includes statistics.

Handbook of the Economics of International Migration

Handbook of the Economics of International Migration PDF Author: Barry Chiswick
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 044463388X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 1702

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Book Description
The economic literature on international migration interests policymakers as well as academics throughout the social sciences. These volumes, the first of a new subseries in the Handbooks in Economics, describe and analyze scholarship created since the inception of serious attention began in the late 1970s. This literature appears in the general economics journals, in various field journals in economics (especially, but not exclusively, those covering labor market and human resource issues), in interdisciplinary immigration journals, and in papers by economists published in journals associated with history, sociology, political science, demography, and linguistics, among others. Covers a range of topics from labor market outcomes and fiscal consequences to the effects of international migration on the level and distribution of income – and everything in between. Encompasses a wide range of topics related to migration and is multidisciplinary in some aspects, which is crucial on the topic of migration Appeals to a large community of scholars interested in this topic and for whom no overviews or summaries exist

The Mechanics of Internationalism

The Mechanics of Internationalism PDF Author: Martin H. Geyer
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199202389
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 481

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Book Description
This collection of essays by American and European scholars traces the origins of modern internationalism and the emergence of global society in the nineteenth century. It offers a fresh approach to the study of international history by looking at the structural prerequisites of the thriving internationalism before the First World War. Thus it links political and social movements trying to reform society and politics by way of transnational co-operation with the process of internationalizing cultural, political, and economic practices. The volume is less concerned with classical diplomatic history than with the increased, yet ambivalent, transnational linking of societies. The subjects covered range from the creation of international standards, the search for a monarchical international, and the making of international women's organizations to the emergence of fashionable meeting places. The book provides a genuine historical perspective on present phenomena.