Economic History

1
Economic History

• Objective
• Discuss the fundamental forces that have
  contributed to the worlds economic development
  over history.
• Discuss the main reasons for and results of
  uneven economic development between different
  regions.

2
Geography and Development

• First a quick exercise find and label the
  following countries
• China
• India
• Nigeria
• Mexico
• Iraq
• Brazil
• Venezuela
• Sudan

3
Geography and Development
4
Economic History I

• 5,000,000 to 15,000 BCE
• All Hunter-Gatherers
• By the end, humans are everywhere
• Around 15,000 BCE, a big leap
• Agriculture and animal domestication
• Leads to
• Permanent settlements
• Specialization
• Complex societies 1st class-based societies
• slavery
• Writing

5
Where?
6
Animals and Plants I

• Animals what makes them suitable for
  domestication?
• Size should be big
• Temperament
• Docile
• Herd
• Growth rate should be quick
• Diet
• Herbivores are best
• Dont want to hunt to feed your animals
• How many does that leave?
• Just fourteen!
• Big five Cows, pigs, horses, sheep, goats
• Almost all of them in Eurasia!

7
Animals and Plants II

• Plants what makes them suitable for cultivation?
• Size of seed/fruit/root
• What are the main crops that have been
  cultivated?
• Top 4 wheat and rice (Eurasia), corn (Central
  and South America), sorghum (Africa)
• Also-rans
• Rye, Barley, Oats (Eurasia)
• Yams, Kola nut (Africa)
• Potato, sweet potato, cocoa, squash, beans,
  tomato (Central South America)
• Wild rice, beans, squash (North America)

8
Geographical Advantages

• Eurasia wins!
• It has the greatest number of useful plant and
  animal species
• It has an east-west orientation (Americas and
  Africa are north-south)
• This means much faster spread of domesticated
  plant and animal species
• Which means
• Faster spread of other technologies
• Lots of diseases

9
Back to History

• By 1500 AD, who is most advanced?
• China, but it was inward looking
• It had plenty of resources
• And enemies to the west
• Europe was outward looking
• It lacked resources
• It was good at fighting
• 1000 years of practice on each other after fall
  of Rome
• And it had guns, germs and steel

10
Economic History

• European economies
• Roman Empire slavery
• Medieval Europe feudalism
• As new colonial empires grew, so did industrial
  capitalism (in Britain, then France, Germany,
  etc.)
• 1500 1914
• European colonial empires divided up the rest of
  the world among them
• Exceptions
• Japan and Ethiopia
• Independent colonies (U.S., Caribbean and Latin
  America)

11
More Economic History

• Which countries are the poorest nations now?
• Former Colonies
• Is this a coincidence?
• Hardly Colonial administrations were all about
  serving the economic needs of the colonial power
• Raw materials (a.k.a. wealth) were extracted
• Native industries were demolished
• Infrastructure built around the colonizers needs
• After independence
• Direct political domination replaced with
  economic domination

12
Bretton Woods

• Conference to decide the structure of
  international economy after the war
• Creates major institutions
• International Monetary Fund
• World Bank
• General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT),
  which lead to World Trade Organization
• Fixed exchange rates, U.S. Dollar (backed by gold
  _at_ 35/oz.) replaces British Pound Sterling as
  international currency