The Colonial Origins of the Divergence in the Americas: A Labor Market Approach

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: University of Oxford; University of Oxford; Bocconi University; Bocconi University; University of Oxford
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050712000629
• 发表日期: 2012
• 页码: 863-894
• 关键词: wages; institutions; GROWTH; prices; lives

摘要

This article introduces the Americas in the Great Divergence debate by measuring real wages in various North and South American cities between colonization and independence, and comparing them to Europe and Asia. We find that for much of the period, North America was the most prosperous region of the world, while Latin America was much poorer. We then discuss a series of hypotheses that can explain these results, including migration, the demography of the American Indian populations, and the various labor systems implemented in the continent.