Humboldt and the economists on natural resources, institutions and underdevelopment (1752 to 1859)

Mauro Boianovsky

The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 2013, vol. 20, issue 1, 58-88

Abstract: The article discusses how early economists, sometimes informed by the pioneer report on a Latin American country (Mexico) by the geographer A. von Humboldt, interpreted the connections between natural resources, institutions and growth. The paradox of a negative relation between natural wealth and growth was elaborated, before Humboldt,by Hume. Humboldt's account of the high degree of income inequality in Mexico caught Malthus's attention, who turned it into a key element of his anti-Ricardo view that the fertility of soil may be associated with poor growth if there is a lack of effective demand. Cairnes claimed that the structural impact of a natural resource boom on the rest of the economy is compatible with the comparative-advantage framework. J.S. Mill articulated the potential perverse effects of natural wealth on effort supply and weak institutions, a theme conspicuous in the modem literature about the “natural resource curse”.

Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.1080/09672567.2011.565358

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