Progress and poverty in early modern Europe

2003/08/01 by Robert C. Allen · 310 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Agriculture #Culture, Economy, and Development Studies #Development economics #Econometric model #Economic geography #Economic growth #Economics #Economy #Empire #European union #Geography #Government (linguistics) #Historical Economic and Legal Thought #Historical Economic and Social Studies #International trade #Labour economics #Literacy #Population #Poverty #Productivity #Sociology #Urbanization #Wage #Western europe

paper · doi:10.1111/j.1468-0289.2003.00257.x

published in The Economic History Review 56(3), 403-443 (Wiley)

openalex publication_date 2003/08/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

An econometric model of economic development is estimated with data from leading European countries between 1300 and 1800. The model explores the impact of population, enclosure, empire, representative government, technology, and literacy on urbanization, agricultural productivity, proto‐industry, and the real wage. Simulations show that the main factors leading to economic success in north‐western Europe were the growth of American and Asian commerce and, especially, the innovations underlying the export of the new draperies in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The enclosure of the open fields, representative government, and the spread of literacy did not play major roles.

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