The Wind of Change: Maritime Technology, Trade and Economic Development

Luigi Pascali

No 764, Working Papers from Barcelona School of Economics

Abstract: The 1870-1913 period marked the birth of the first era of trade globalization. How did this tremendous increase in trade affect economic development? This work isolates a causality channel by exploiting the fact that the steamship produced an asymmetric change in trade distances among countries. Before the invention of the steamship, trade routes depended on wind patterns. The introduction of the steamship in the shipping industry reduced shipping costs and time in a disproportionate manner across countries and trade routes. Using this source of variation and a completely novel set of data on shipping times, trade, and development that spans the great majority of the world between 1850 and 1900, I find that 1) the adoption of the steamship was the major reason for the first wave of trade globalization, 2) only a small number of countries that were characterized by more inclusive institutions benefited from globalization, and 3) globalization exerted a negative effect on both urbanization rates and economic development in most other countries.

Keywords: steamship; gravity; globalization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F1 F15 F43 O43 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-int
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Wind of Change: Maritime Technology, Trade, and Economic Development (2017)
Working Paper: The Wind of Change: Maritime Technology, Trade and Economic Development (2014)
Working Paper: The Wind of Change: Maritime Technology, Trade and Economic Development (2014)
Working Paper: The wind of change: Maritime technology, trade and economic development (2014)
Working Paper: The Wind of Change: Maritime Technology, Trade and Economic Development (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bge:wpaper:764

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