Globalization and History: The Evolution of a Nineteenth-Century Atlantic Economy

Kevin H. O'Rourke, Jeffrey G. Williamson

MIT Press, Jan 26, 2001 - Business & Economics - 356 pages

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.

Contents

• Globalization and History: 1
• Convergence in History: 5
• Transport Revolutions and Commodity Market Integration: 29
• Were Heckscher and Ohlin Right?: 57
• The Politics of Free Trade Repeal of the Corn Laws: 77
• Globalization Backlash Tariff Responses: 93
• Mass Migrations Why They Moved: 119
• Mass Migrations Impact on Labor Markets Home and Abroad: 145
• Globalization Relative Factor Price Convergence and Inequality: 167
• Globalization Backlash Migration Policy Gets Restrictive: 185
• Forging and Breaking Global Capital Markets: 207
• International Capital Flows Causes and Consequences: 225
• Trade and Factor Flows Substitutes or Complements?: 247
• Lessons from History: 269
• Trade Theory and Computable General Equilibrium Models: 289
• Notes: 295
• References: 309
• Index: 337

About the author

Kevin H. O'Rourke is Professor of Economics at Trinity College, Dublin. He is co-author (with Jeffrey Williamson) of Globalization and History.

Jeffrey G. Williamson is Laird Bell Professor of Economics Emeritus at Harvard and Honorary Fellow in the Department of Economics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is the coauthor (with Kevin O'Rourke) of Globalization and History: The Evolution of a Nineteenth-Century Atlantic Economy and (with Timothy J. Hatton) of Global Migration and the World Economy: Two Centuries of Policy and Performance, both published by the MIT Press.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Globalization and History: The Evolution of a Nineteenth-Century Atlantic Economy; Globalization and History: The Evolution of a Nineteenth-century Atlantic Economy, Jeffrey G. Williamson; Mit Press
• Authors: Kevin H. O'Rourke, Jeffrey G. Williamson
• Edition: illustrated, revised
• Publisher: MIT Press, 2001
• ISBN: 0262650592, 9780262650595
• Length: 356 pages
• Subjects: Business & Economics / Development / General