Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Boxes
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction: scarcity and frontiers
- 2 The Agricultural Transition (from 10,000 BC to 3000 BC)
- 3 The Rise of Cities (from 3000 BC to 1000 AD)
- 4 The Emergence of the World Economy (from 1000 to 1500)
- 5 Global Frontiers and the Rise of Western Europe (from 1500 to 1914)
- 6 The Atlantic Economy Triangular Trade (from 1500 to 1860)
- 7 The Golden Age of Resource-Based Development (from 1870 to 1914)
- 8 The Age of Dislocation (from 1914 to 1950)
- 9 The Contemporary Era (from 1950 to the present)
- 10 Epilogue: the Age of Ecological Scarcity?
- Index
- References
Preface
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Boxes
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction: scarcity and frontiers
- 2 The Agricultural Transition (from 10,000 BC to 3000 BC)
- 3 The Rise of Cities (from 3000 BC to 1000 AD)
- 4 The Emergence of the World Economy (from 1000 to 1500)
- 5 Global Frontiers and the Rise of Western Europe (from 1500 to 1914)
- 6 The Atlantic Economy Triangular Trade (from 1500 to 1860)
- 7 The Golden Age of Resource-Based Development (from 1870 to 1914)
- 8 The Age of Dislocation (from 1914 to 1950)
- 9 The Contemporary Era (from 1950 to the present)
- 10 Epilogue: the Age of Ecological Scarcity?
- Index
- References
Summary
Preface
The genesis of this book began with another volume, Natural Resources and Economic Development, which was published in 2005 by Cambridge University Press. The purpose of the latter book was to explore a key paradox in the contemporary world economy: why is natural resource exploitation not yielding greater benefits to the poor economies of Africa, Asia and Latin America? To better understand this paradox, I thought that it might be important to contrast the less successful resource-based development of present times with past epochs of economic development in which the exploitation of natural resources clearly played an important, and more successful, role. Thus, in my 2005 book, I included a chapter entitled “Natural resource-based economic development in history.” I published subsequently an article based on this chapter in World Economics.
However, it soon became apparent that a chapter or journal article was not sufficient to explore the contribution of natural resource exploitation in influencing processes of economic development in key eras of world history. Nor would it be possible through any short historical review to shed light on the many parallels between these past epochs and the current era of global economic development and patterns of resource use.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Scarcity and FrontiersHow Economies Have Developed Through Natural Resource Exploitation, pp. xiii - xviPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010