Of mice and merchants: connectedness and the location of economic activity in the Iron Age

Jan Bakker, Stephan Maurer, Jorn-Steffen Pischke and Ferdinand Rauch

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: We study the causal relationship between geographic connectedness and development using one of the earliest massive trade expansions: the first systematic crossing of open seas in the Mediterranean during the time of the Phoenicians. We construct a geography based measure of connectedness along the shores of the sea. We relate connectedness to economic activity, which we measure using the presence of archaeological sites. We find an association between better connected locations and archaeological sites during the Iron Age, at a time when sailors began to cross open water routinely on a big scale. We corroborate these findings at world level.

Keywords: urbanization; locational fundamentals; trade (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F14 O47 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 44 pages
Date: 2020-01-23
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gro, nep-his, nep-int and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published in Review of Economics and Statistics, 23, January, 2020, 0(0), pp. 1-44. ISSN: 0034-6535

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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/103007/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Of Mice and Merchants: Connectedness and the Location of Economic Activity in the Iron Age (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:103007

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