Economic Development in the Americas Since 1500

Economic Development in the Americas Since 1500
Author: Stanley L. Engerman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 449
Release: 2012
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1107009553

Examines differences in the rates of economic growth in Latin America and mainland North America since the seventeenth century.

The British Textile Trade in South America in the Nineteenth Century

The British Textile Trade in South America in the Nineteenth Century
Author: Manuel Llorca-Jaña
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 409
Release: 2012-06-18
Genre: History
ISBN: 1139510843

This is the first work on British textile exports to South America during the nineteenth century. During this period, textiles ranked among the most important manufactures traded in the world market and Britain was the foremost producer. Thanks to new data, this book demonstrates that British exports to South America were transacted at very high rates during the first decades after independence. This development was due to improvements in the packing of textiles; decreasing costs of production and introduction of free trade in Britain; falling ocean freight rates, marine insurance and import duties in South America; dramatic improvements in communications; and the introduction of better port facilities. Manuel Llorca-Jaña explores the marketing chain of textile exports to South America and sheds light on South Americans' consumer behaviour. This book contains the most comprehensive database on Anglo-South American trade during the nineteenth century and fills an important gap in the historiography.

Understanding Long-Run Economic Growth

Understanding Long-Run Economic Growth
Author: Dora L. Costa
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 401
Release: 2011-08-10
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0226116425

The conditions for sustainable growth and development are among the most debated topics in economics, and the consensus is that institutions matter greatly in explaining why some economies are more successful than others over time. Probing the long-term effects of early colonial differences on immigration policy, land distribution, and financial development in a variety of settings, Understanding Long-Run Economic Growth explores the relationship between economic conditions, growth, and inequality, with a focus on how the monopolization of resources by the political elite limits incentives for ordinary people to invest in human capital or technological discovery. Among the topics discussed are the development of credit markets in France, the evolution of transportation companies in the United Kingdom and the United States, and the organization of innovation in the United States.

Has Latin America Always Been Unequal?

Has Latin America Always Been Unequal?
Author: Ewout Frankema
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2009-06-02
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9047429354

The forces of industrialisation, urbanisation, globalisation and technological change have washed away the pre-modern outlook of most Latin American economies. Despite the improved opportunities of social mobility offered by economic modernisation, current income inequality levels (still) appear extraordinary high. Has Latin America always been unequal? Did the region fail to settle a longstanding account with its colonial past? Or should we be reluctant to point our finger so far back in time? In a comparative study of asset and income distribution Frankema shows that both the levels, and nature, of income inequality have changed significantly since 1870. Besides the deep historical roots of land and educational inequality, more recent demographic and political-institutional forces are taken on board to understand Latin America’s distributive dynamics in the long twentieth century.

Good, Bad, and Ugly Colonial Activities: Studying Development across the Americas

Good, Bad, and Ugly Colonial Activities: Studying Development across the Americas
Author: Miriam Bruhn
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 58
Release: 2008
Genre: Country Population Profiles
ISBN:

Abstract: Levels of economic development vary widely within countries in the Americas. This paper argues that part of this variation has its roots in the colonial era. Colonizers engaged in different economic activities in different regions of a country, depending on local conditions. Some activities were "bad" in the sense that they depended heavily on the exploitation of labor and created extractive institutions, while "good" activities created inclusive institutions. The authors show that areas with bad colonial activities have lower gross domestic product per capita today than areas with good colonial activities. Areas with high pre-colonial population density also do worse today. In particular, the positive effect of "good" activities goes away in areas with high pre-colonial population density. The analysis attributes this to the "ugly" fact that colonizers used the pre-colonial population as an exploitable resource. The intermediating factor between history and current development appears to be institutional differences across regions and not income inequality or the current ethnic composition of the population.

Agricultural Transformation in a Global History Perspective

Agricultural Transformation in a Global History Perspective
Author: Ellen Hillbom
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 358
Release: 2013-03-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1136676805

History teaches us that agricultural growth and development is necessary for achieving overall better living conditions in all societies. Although this process may seem homogenous when looked at from the outside, it is full of diversity within. This book captures this diversity by presenting eleven independent case studies ranging over time and space. By comparing outcomes, attempts are made to draw general conclusion and lessons about the agricultural transformation process.

A History of Latin America to 1825

A History of Latin America to 1825
Author:
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 600
Release: 2009-12-21
Genre: History
ISBN: 1405183683

The updated and enhanced third edition of A History of Latin America to 1825 presents a comprehensive narrative survey of Latin American history from the region's first human presence until the majority of Iberian colonies in America emerged as sovereign states c. 1825. This edition features new content on the history of women, gender, Africans in the Iberian colonies, and pre-Columbian peoples Includes more illustrations to aid learning: over 50 figures and photographs, several accompanied by short essays Concentrates on the colonial period and earlier, expanding coverage of the period and incorporating more social and cultural history with the political narrative Part of The Blackwell History of the World Series The goal of this ambitious series is to provide an accessible source of knowledge about the entire human past, for every curious person in every part of the world. It will comprise some two dozen volumes, of which some provide synoptic views of the history of particular regions while others consider the world as a whole during a particular period of time. The volumes are narrative in form, giving balanced attention to social and cultural history (in the broadest sense) as well as to institutional development and political change. Each provides a systematic account of a very large subject, but they are also both imaginative and interpretative. The Series is intended to be accessible to the widest possible readership, and the accessibility of its volumes is matched by the style of presentation and production.

Oxford Handbook of Commodities History

Oxford Handbook of Commodities History
Author: Stubbs
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 753
Release: 2023
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0197502679

"Commodities provide a lens through which local and global histories can be understood and written. The study of commodities history follows these goods as they make their way from land and water through processing and trade to eventual consumption. It is a fast-developing field with collaborative, comparative, and interdisciplinary research, with new information technologies becoming increasingly important. Although many individual researchers continue to focus on particular commodities and regions, they often do so in partnership with others working on different areas and employing a range of theoretical and methodological approaches, placing commodities history at the forefront of local and global historical analysis. This Oxford Handbook features contributions from scholars involved in these developments across a range of countries and linguistic regions. They discuss the state of the art in their fields, draw on their own work, and signal lacunae for future research. Each of its 31 chapters focuses on an important thematic area within commodities history: key approaches, global histories, modes of production, people and land, environmental impact, consumption, and new methodologies. Taken together, the Oxford Handbook of Commodities History offers insight into the directions in which commodities history is heading, and the multiple ways in which it can contribute to a better understanding of the world"--

Travel Narratives in Dialogue

Travel Narratives in Dialogue
Author: Shannon Marie Butler
Publisher: Peter Lang
Total Pages: 142
Release: 2008
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780820495200

Travel Narratives in Dialogue examines nineteenth-century imperialist travelogues written about Peru and examines Peruvian writers of the same period who fashioned their own travelogues as protests against how imperialist writers denigrated Peru and Peruvian culture. This study exposes the dialogic nature of travelogues in the Bakhtinean sense and underscores how the travel-writing subjects produce texts that serve as fora of struggle, coercion, control, and contestation depending on the personal, imperialist, nationalist, and proto-feminist agendas the writers supported. Travel narratives examined include those written by J. J. von Tschudi, Madeline Vinton Dahlgren, Flora Tristan, Juan Bustamante, Manuel A. Fuentes, and José Manuel Valdéz y Palacios.