Coal and Sugar: The Black and White Gold of Czech Industrialization (1841-1863)

Hana Nielsen ()
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Hana Nielsen: Department of Economic History, Lund University, Postal: Department of Economic History, Lund University, Box 7083, S-220 07 Lund, Sweden

No 229, Lund Papers in Economic History from Lund University, Department of Economic History

Abstract: This article studies the fast fossil fuel transition in the context of steam adoption in the Czech lands. I show how geographical proximity to coal brought forward the early industrialization of the Czech lands. The region’s fast transition to modern fuels fundamentally transformed the industrial landscape and laid foundations for the development of new industries. Coal, steam and sugar became the central elements, moving the Czech lands closer to the European core. Overall, this article challenges the traditional view of the economic backwardness and shows on what grounds the Czech lands became the economic powerhouse of the Habsburg Empire.

Keywords: industrialization; distance to coal; steam engines; Poisson regression; spatial regression (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C21 N73 O14 R12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 61 pages
Date: 2021-10-13
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-env and nep-his
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:luekhi:0229

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