A Model of Later Nineteenth Century European Economic Development

Abstract

En este trabajo se desarrolla y estima un modelo para explicar los motivos por los cuales algunos países europeos prosperaron más rápidamente que otros en el período 1860- 1910. El modelo cuantifica por dos vías distintas los factores que contribuyeron a las diferencias de ingreso entre España y Gran Bretaña. Los determinantes que se consideran más significativos son los recursos naturales, la política económica y la herencia cultural reflejada en los niveles educativos.

A model is developed and estimated to explain why some European countries were richer than others between 1860 and 1910 and why some increased their prosperity faster in the period. The model quantifies by two methods some of the contributors to the income gap between the economies of Spain and Britain in 1880 and 1910. Determinants of European nations' output per head included natural endowments (climate and coal deposits), economic policy (tariff protection and very marginally the gold standard), and cultural heritage as reflected in literacy. Measurement errors, country specific factors and perhaps variables not considered in this analysis account for less than half Spanish-UK income differences at the dates estimated.