Rise and Fall of Empires in the Industrial Era: A Story of Shifting Comparative Advantages

Roberto Bonfatti and A. Kerem Coşar

No 30295, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: The last two centuries witnessed the rise and fall of empires. We construct a model which rationalises this in terms of the changing trade gains from empires. In the model, empires are arrangements that reduce trade cost between an industrial metropole and the agricultural periphery. During early industrialisation, the value of such bilateral trade increases, and so does the value of empires. As industrialisation diffuses, and as manufactures become more differentiated, trade becomes more multilateral and intra-industry, reducing the value of empires. Our results are consistent with long-term changes in income distribution and trade patterns, and with previous historical arguments.

JEL-codes: F10 F50 N7 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-int
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Related works:
Working Paper: Rise and Fall of Empires in the Industrial Era: A Story of Shifting Comparative Advantages (2022)
Working Paper: Rise and fall of empires in the industrial era: A story of shifting comparative advantages (2022)
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