Book contents
- An Economic History of Europe
- New Approaches to Economic and Social History
- An Economic History of Europe
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Tables
- Figures
- Maps
- Boxes
- Preface to the Third Edition
- Preface to the Second Edition
- Preface to the First Edition
- Introduction:
- 1 The Making of Europe
- 2 Europe from Obscurity to Economic Recovery
- 3 Population and Resource Constraints
- 4 The Nature and Extent of Economic Growth in the Pre-industrial Epoch
- 5 Institutions and Efficiency
- 6 Knowledge, Technology Transfer and Convergence
- 7 Money, Credit and Banking
- 8 Trade and Globalization
- 9 Factor Markets and Globalization
- 10 What Governments (Should) Do
- 11 Inequalities between Individuals, Households and Nations
- Conclusion and Epilogue
- Appendix: Choosing and Using Historical Data
- Glossary
- Index
- References
8 - Trade and Globalization
Published online by Cambridge University Press: aN Invalid Date NaN
Book contents
- An Economic History of Europe
- New Approaches to Economic and Social History
- An Economic History of Europe
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Tables
- Figures
- Maps
- Boxes
- Preface to the Third Edition
- Preface to the Second Edition
- Preface to the First Edition
- Introduction:
- 1 The Making of Europe
- 2 Europe from Obscurity to Economic Recovery
- 3 Population and Resource Constraints
- 4 The Nature and Extent of Economic Growth in the Pre-industrial Epoch
- 5 Institutions and Efficiency
- 6 Knowledge, Technology Transfer and Convergence
- 7 Money, Credit and Banking
- 8 Trade and Globalization
- 9 Factor Markets and Globalization
- 10 What Governments (Should) Do
- 11 Inequalities between Individuals, Households and Nations
- Conclusion and Epilogue
- Appendix: Choosing and Using Historical Data
- Glossary
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter examines the historical evolution of trade and globalization in Europe, focusing on the forces that have shaped trade patterns over time. It explores the impact of technological advancements, such as improvements in transportation and communication, as well as the influence of political decisions on trade policy, including cycles of protectionism and free trade. The chapter also discusses the economic benefits and challenges of globalization, analysing how trade has contributed to economic growth while also creating winners and losers within and between countries. The chapter argues that while globalization has generally increased economic efficiency, its effects have been unevenly distributed.
Information
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- An Economic History of EuropeKnowledge, Institutions and Welfare, Prehistory to the Present, pp. 178 - 203Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
References
Bibliography:
Riello, G. and Parthasarathi, P. (eds). The Spinning World: A Global History of Cotton Textiles (Oxford University Press, 2009).Google Scholar
Bibliography:
Irwin, D. Peddling Prosperity: Smoot–Hawley and the Great Depression (Princeton University Press, 2011).Google Scholar
Wandschneider, K., Mitchener, K. and O’Rourke, K. ‘The Smoot–Hawley trade war’, Economic Journal 132(647) (2022), 2500–33.Google Scholar
Suggestions for Further Reading
Much of the recent research in the economic history of globalization has been inspired by Harvard and Wisconsin-based J. G. Williamson and younger colleagues. Major themes in this research effort are explored in O’Rourke, K. H. and Williamson, J. G., Globalization and History: The Evolution of a Nineteenth Century Atlantic Economy (MIT Press, 1999).
de Zwart, P. and van Zanden, J. L., The Origins of Globalization: World Trade in the Making of the Global Economy, 1500–1800 (Cambridge University Press, 2018), covers the period preceding 1800. Findlay, R. and O’Rourke, K., Power and Plenty: Trade, War, and the World Economy in the Second Millennium (Princeton University Press, 2007), extends this work much further back in time and provides a truly global perspective to the history of trade. Bernstein, W. J., Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World (Grove Press, 2009), takes an even longer view (and a slightly less academic approach). Pomeranz, K. and Topik, S., The World That Trade Created: Society, Culture and the World Economy, 1400 to the Present (Routledge, 2015), connects trade back to culture and society.
Bordo, M. D., Taylor, A. M. and Williamson, J. G., Globalization in Historical Perspective (University of Chicago Press, 2003), contains a large number of chapters on practically all aspects of globalization.
Persson, K. G., Grain Markets in Europe 1500–1900: Integration and Deregulation (Cambridge University Press, 1999), treats the history of European grain markets more in detail.
The role of transport cost reductions, as opposed to trade policy, in globalization is played down in Federico, G. and Persson, K. G., ‘Market integration and convergence in the world wheat market 1800–2000’, in Hatton, T. J., O’Rourke, K. H. and Taylor, A. M. (eds), The New Comparative Economic History: Essays in Honour of Jeffrey G. Williamson (MIT Press, 2007), pp. 87–114.
Irwin, D., Against the Tide (Princeton University Press, 1988), provides an excellent overview of the history of protectionist and free trade arguments.
Rodrik, D., The Globalization Paradox (W. W. Norton, 2011), discusses political implications of economic globalization in the long run.
Krugman, P. R. and Obstfeld, M., International Economics: Theory and Policy (Pearson Education, 2008), gives an excellent textbook introduction to trade theory.
Obstfeld, M. and Taylor, A., Global Capital Markets: Integration, Crisis and Growth (Cambridge University Press, 2004), is a careful analysis of the ups and downs of capital market integration over the last 150 years.
Williamson, J. G., ‘Globalization, labor markets and policy backlash in the past’, Journal of Economic Perspectives 12(4) (1998), 51–72, suggests that globalization has winners and losers, which explains policy backlashes.
Roy, Tirthankar has written an excellent economic history of India focusing on India’s relation to the global economy in India and the World Economy: From Antiquity to the Present (Cambridge University Press, 2012).
On trade within the Eastern bloc, see Suesse, M., ‘Breaking the unbreakable union: nationalism, disintegration and the Soviet economic collapse’, Economic Journal 128(615) (2018), 2933–67.
There are numerous further studies on the relationship between trade, trade policy and growth. See:
Acemoglu, D., Johnson, S. and Robinson, J. A. ‘The rise of Europe: Atlantic trade, institutional change and economic growth’, American Economic Review 95 (2005), 546–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bairoch, P. ‘Free trade and European economic development in the nineteenth century’, European Economic Review 3(3) (1972), 211–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clemens, M. A. and Williamson, J. G. ‘Why did the tariff–growth correlation change after 1950?’, Journal of Economic Growth 9 (2004), 5–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Estevadeordal, A. and Taylor, A. M. ‘Is the Washington Consensus dead? Growth, openness, and the great liberalization, 1970s–2000s’, The Review of Economics and Statistics, 95 (2013), 1669–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kravis, I. B. ‘Trade as a handmaiden of growth: similarities between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries’, The Economic Journal 80(320) (1970), 850–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lehmann, S. and O’Rourke, K. H. ‘The structure of protection and growth in the late nineteenth century’, The Review of Economics and Statistics 93 (2011), 606–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pascali, L. ‘The wind of change: maritime technology, trade, and economic development’, American Economic Review 107 (2017), 2821–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Rourke, K. H. ‘Tariffs and growth in the late nineteenth century’. Economic Journal 110(463) (2000), 456–83.Google Scholar
Williamson, J. G. Trade and Poverty: When the Third World Fell Behind (The MIT Press, 2011).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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