Globalization and History: The Evolution of a Nineteenth-Century Atlantic Economy. By Kevin H. O'Rourke and Jeffrey G. Williamson. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1999. Pp. xii, 343. $45.00

Robert Allen

The Journal of Economic History, 2001, vol. 61, issue 1, 256-259

Abstract: Globalization and History is an impressive book. It asks a big question: What was the economic impact of globalization in the late nineteenth century? To answer it, Kevin O'Rourke and Jeff Williamson deploy new data—principally purchasing-power-parity-adjusted real wages and land values for major economies in Europe and the Americas—and analyze them with regressions and computable general-equilibrium (CGE) models. The analysis is always incisive and frequently elegant; the writing is accessible to the general reader as well as the professional. The message is upbeat: nineteenth-century globalization was a “good thing” because it allowed poor countries to catch up to rich ones. But unskilled workers in the leading countries suffered, leading to a backlash against globalization. Today's leaders should take heed, lest history repeat itself.

Date: 2001
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