Early Starts, Reversals and Catchup in The Process of Economic Development

Areendam Chanda and Louis Putterman

Development and Comp Systems from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Early states like China, India, Italy and Greece have been experiencing more rapid economic growth in recent decades than have later-comers to agriculture and statehood like New Guinea, the Congo, and Uruguay. We show that more rapid growth by early starters has been the norm in economic history, and that the “reversal of fortune” associated with European overseas expansion from about 1500 to 1960 was an exception. We demonstrate that the colonial era reversal was in the process of being reversed in recent decades, and that this second reversal is in line with longer-term trends dating back to the first agricultural revolution.

Keywords: economic growth; economic development; economic history (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N00 O10 O40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 44 pages
Date: 2004-08-19
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev
Note: Type of Document - pdf; pages: 44
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https://econwpa.ub.uni-muenchen.de/econ-wp/dev/papers/0408/0408016.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Early Starts, Reversals and Catch‐up in the Process of Economic Development* (2007)
Working Paper: Early Starts, Reversals and Catchup in the Process of Economic Development (2005)
Working Paper: Early Starts, Reversals and Catchup in The Process of Economic Development (2004)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wpa:wuwpdc:0408016

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