Trade and Political Fragmentation on the Silk Roads: The Economic Effects of Historical Exchange between China and the Muslim East

Christopher Paik () and Lisa Blaydes
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Lisa Blaydes: Division of Social Science

No 20190033, Working Papers from New York University Abu Dhabi, Department of Social Science

Abstract: The Silk Roads stretched across Eurasia, connecting East and West for centuries. At its height, the network of trade routes enabled merchants to travel from China to the Mediterranean Sea, carrying with them high-value commercial goods, the exchange of which encouraged urban growth and prosperity. We examine the extent to which urban centers thrived or withered as a function of shocks to trade routes, particularly political fragmentation along natural travel paths. We find that political fragmentation along the roads to Aleppo and historic Chang'an - major terminus locations for cross-regional trade - damaged city growth. These conclusions contribute to our understanding of how a pre-modern international system operated through an examination of exchange between the two most developed world regions of the medieval and early modern periods, China and the Muslim East.

Pages: 57 pages
Date: 2019-12, Revised 2019-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cna, nep-gro, nep-his, nep-int and nep-isf
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https://nyuad.nyu.edu/content/dam/nyuad/academics/ ... papers/2019/0033.pdf First version, 2019 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Trade and Political Fragmentation on the Silk Roads: The Economic Effects of Historical Exchange between China and the Muslim East (2021)
Working Paper: Trade and Political Fragmentation on the Silk Roads: The Economic Effects of Historical Exchange between China and the Muslim East (2020)
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