Smithian growth in the little divergence: a general equilibrium analysis

B-Tier
Journal: Explorations in Economic History
Year: 2025
Volume: 97
Issue: C

Score contribution per author:

1.009 = (α=2.02 / 2 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

To address growing concerns on the representativeness of real wages, we generate new estimates of GDP pc in pre-industrial England and Italy, as well as new exploratory estimates for Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Spain and Sweden, with Groth and Persson's (2016) general equilibrium model. Our results question the robustness of the current theoretical consensus on the “little divergence” and suggest an alternative hypothesis: north-western Europe saw faster Smithian growth than the rest of Europe after 1500.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:exehis:v:97:y:2025:i:c:s0014498325000294
Journal Field
Economic History
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25