Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Gregory Clark
Author-Workplace-Name: University of California, USA
Author-Name: Kevin Hjortshøj O’Rourke
Author-Workplace-Name: All Souls College, Oxford University, UK
Author-Email: kevin.orourke@all-souls.ox.ac.uk
Author-Name: Alan M. Taylor
Author-Workplace-Name: University of California, USA
Title: The Growing Dependence of Britain on Trade During the Industrial Revolution
Abstract: Many previous studies of the role of trade during the British Industrial Revolution have found
little or no role for trade in explaining British living standards or growth rates. We construct a
three-region model of the world in which Britain trades with North America and the rest of the
world, and calibrate the model to data from the 1760s and 1850s. We find that while trade had
only a small impact on British welfare in the 1760s, it had a very large impact in the 1850s. This
contrast is robust to a large range of parameter perturbations. Biased technological change and
population growth were key in explaining Britain’s growing dependence on trade during the
Industrial Revolution.
Classification-JEL: F11, F14, F43, N10, N70, O40
Keywords: British Industrial Revolution, Great Divergence, trade, colonies, growth, specialization
Length: 36 pages
Creation-Date: 2014-03-22
Number: _126
File-URL: http://www.economics.ox.ac.uk/materials/papers/13258/clark-et-al-new-world.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
Handle: RePEc:nuf:esohwp:_126