Colonial settlers and economic development in Latin America
José G. Montalvo and Marta Reynal-Querol show a relevant effect of the skills of first colonizers on long-run levels of development in Latin America.
Topic Archive: Economic History
Political instability, state capacity and climate change in ancient times
Laura Mayoral and Ola Olsson explore early state development using Ancient Egypt as a laboratory.
The benefits of industrial espionage
Albrecht Glitz and Erik Meyersson present the first systematic evaluation of the economic returns to state-sponsored industrial espionage.
Catalan secessionism: is it really about the money?
Xavier Cuadras Morató and Toni Rodon question whether the increase in support for independence in Catalonia is a by-product of the Great Recession.
To Be Smart or to Be Strong: Historic Links of Investment in Education and Economic Growth in Spain
Enriqueta Camps investigates how the evolution of the education system in Spain from the 19th to the 21st century affected the country’s GDP.
How Sovereign Debt Accelerated the First Industrial Revolution
Could the massive wartime debt accumulated by Britain’s government in the 18th and 19th centuries have helped the country industrialize first and become the world’s leading economy? Given the customary association of debt with dissipation and ruin, this may come across as an unlikely proposition, yet this is exactly the story that Jaume Ventura and Hans-Joachim Voth have found in the historical evidence.
