Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T01:58:15.302Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Real wages, inequality and globalization in latin america before 1940

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2010

Jeffrey G. Williamson
Jeffrey G. Williamson
Affiliation:
Harvard University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

By 1914, there were huge economic gaps between the Southern Cone plus Cuba and the rest of Latin America. Can they be explained by the varying ability of these countries to exploit the first great globalization boom after about 1870? Or did the gaps appear much earlier? And what about the gaps between Latin America and the Mediterranean, let alone with industrial leaders like Britain? What role did geographic isolation, globalization and demographic forces play in the process? Conventional GDP estimates are much too coarse to confront these questions. This essay uses a new data base on real wages and relative factor prices for seven Latin American and three Mediterranean regions, the latter being a source of so many of immigrants for the former. These ten regions, plus comparative information from Britain and the United States, form the data base for the paper.

Resumen

Hacia 1914 existían notables diferencias económicas entre los países del Cono Sur y Cuba y el resto de América Latina. El artículo indaga las razones de estas diferencias, cuando aparecieron, así como la distancia existente entre los países latinoamericanos, los de la cuenca mediterránea y el líder industrial. Se ocupa de examinar el papel que desempeñaron las fuerzas demográficas, la localización geográfica y el grado de globalización e integracion económica. El trabajo utiliza nuevos datos de salarios reales y precios relativos de los factores de siete países latinoamericanos y de tres regiones mediterráneas. Estos datos se comparan con la información disponible para Gran Bretaña y los Estados Unidos.

Type
Segunda parte: Estudios de historia económica latinoamericana
Information
Revista de Historia Economica - Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History , Volume 17 , Número especial S1: La historica económica en Latinoamérica , March 1999 , pp. 101 - 142
Copyright
Copyright © Instituto Figuerola de Historia y Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Allen, R. (1998), «The Great Divergence: Wages and Prices from the Middle Ages to the First World War», paper presented to the Conference on Regions, Queens University, Kingston, Canada (March 6–7).Google Scholar
Astorga, P., and Fitzgerald, V. (1998), «The Standard of Living in Latin America During the Twentieth Century», Development Studies Working Paper n.° 117, Queen Elizabeth House, St. Antony's College, University of Oxford (May).Google Scholar
Bairoch, P. (1975), The Economic Development of the Third World since 1900 (London: Methuen).Google Scholar
Bertola, L.; Calicchio, L.; Camou, M., and Porcile, G. (1999), «Southern Cone Real Wages Compared: A Purchasing Power Parity Approach to Convergence and Divergence Trends, 1870–1996», Documento de Trabajo #44, Unidad Multidisciplinaria, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales.Google Scholar
Blainey, G. (1966), The Tyranny of Distance: How Distance Shaped Australia's History (Melbourne: Macmillan, revised 1982 ed.).Google Scholar
Bloom, D., and Williamson, J. G. (1998), «Demographic Transitions and Economic Miracles in Emerging Asia», World Bank Economic Review 12 (September), pp. 419–455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brading, C. W. (1969), «Un análisis comparativo del costo de la vida en diversas capitales de hispanoamérica», Boletín Histórico de la Fundación John Boulton 20 (Marzo), pp. 229–63.Google Scholar
Bulmer-Thomas, V. (1994), The Economic History of Latin America Since Independence (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Coatsworth, J. (1981), Growth Against Development—The Economic Impact of Railroads in Porfirian Mexico (Dekalb, Ill.: Northern Illinois University Press).Google Scholar
Coatsworth, J. (1993), «Notes on the Comparative Economic History of Latin America and the United States», in Bernecker, W. L. and Tobler, H. W. (eds.), Development and Underdevelopment in America: Contrasts of Economic Growth in North and Latin America in Historical Perspective (New York).Google Scholar
Diakosawas, D., and Scandizzo, G., «Trends in the Terms of Trade of Primary Commodities, 1900–1982: The Controversy and Its Origins», Economic Development and Cultural Change 39 (January), pp. 231–264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Díaz-Alejandro, C. F. (1970), Essays on the Economic History of the Argentine Republic (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press).Google Scholar
Ellsworth, P. T. (1956), «The Terms of Trade between Primary Producing and Industrial Countries», Inter-American Economic Affairs 10 (Summer), pp. 47–65.Google Scholar
Engerman, S. L., and Sokoloff, K. L. (1996), «Factor Endowments, Institutions, and Differential Paths of Growth Among New World Economies: A View from Economic Historians of the United States», in Haber, S. (ed.), How Latin America Fell Behind (Stanford, Cal.: Stanford University Press).Google Scholar
Ferenczi, I., and Willcox, W. F. (1929), International Migrations, vol. I (New York: National Bureau of Economics Research).Google Scholar
Fletcher, M. E. (1958), «The Suez Canal and World Shipping, 1869–1914» journal of Economic History 18 (December), pp. 556–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerschenkron, A. (1952), «Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective», in Hoselitz, B. (ed.), The Progress of Underdeveloped Areas (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).Google Scholar
Gomes, G. M. (1986), The Roots of State Intervention in the Brazilian Economy (New York: Praeger).Google Scholar
Harley, C. K. (1980), «Transportation, the World Wheat Trade, and the Kuznets Cycle, 1850–1913», Explorations in Economic History 17 (July), pp. 218–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harley, C. K. (1988), «Ocean Freight Rates and Productivity, 1740–1913: The Primacy of Mechanical Invention Reaffirmed», Journal of Economic History 48 (December), pp. 851–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hatton, T. J., and Williamson, J. G. (1994), «Late-Comers to Mass Emigration: The Latin Experience», in Hatton, T. J. and Williamson, J. G. (eds.), Migration and the International Labor Market, 1850–1939 (London: Roudedge).Google Scholar
Hatton, T. J., and Williamson, J. G. (1998), The Age of Mass Migration: Causes and Economic Impact (New York: Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krugman, P. (1991a), Geography and Trade (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press).Google Scholar
Krugman, P. (1991b), «Increasing Returns and Economic Geography», Journal of Political Economy 99 (June), pp. 483–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krugman, P. R., and Venables, A. (1990), «Integration and the Competitiveness of Peripheral Industry», in Bliss, C. and Braga|de Macedo, J. (eds.), Unity with Diversity in the European Community (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 56–77.Google Scholar
Krugman, P. R., and Venables, A. (1995), «Globalization and the Inequality of Nations», NBER Working Paper 5098, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Mass. (April).Google Scholar
Leff, N. H. (1972), «Economie Development and Regional Inequality: Origins of the Brazilian Case», Quarterly Journal of Economics 86 (May), pp. 243–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leff, N. H. (1992), «Economic Development in Brazil, 1822–1913», First Boston Working Paper FB–92–02, Columbia University.Google Scholar
Lewis, W. A. (1954), «Economic Development with Unlimited Supplies of Labour», Manchester School of Economic and Social Studies 22 (May), pp. 139–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, W. A. (1969), Aspects of Tropical Development (Uppsala: Wiksell).Google Scholar
Lewis, W. A. (1978a), The Evolution of the International Economic Order (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press).Google Scholar
Lewis, W. A. (1978b), Growth and fluctuations 1870–1913 (Cambridge: Allen and Unwin).Google Scholar
Maddison, A. (1991), Dynamic Forces in Capitalist Development (Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Maddison, A. (1995), Monitoring the World Economy 1820–1992 (Paris: OECD Development Centre Studies).Google Scholar
Mokyr, J. (1990), The Lever of Riches: Technological Creativity and Economic Progress (New York: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Moreda, V. P. (1987), «Spam's Demographic Modernization, 1800–1930», in Sanchez-Albornoz, N. (ed.), The Economic Modernization of Spain, 1830–1930 (New York: New York University Press).Google Scholar
Newland, C. (1998), «Economic Development and Population Change: Argentina 1810–1870», in Coatsworth, J. and Taylor, A. (eds.), Latin America and the World Economy Since 1800 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press).Google Scholar
North, D. C. (1958), «Ocean Freight Rates and Economic Development 1750–1913», Journal of Economic History 18 (December), pp. 538–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'rourke, K. H. (1997), «The European Grain Invasion, 1870–1913», Journal of Economic History 57 (December), pp. 775–801.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'rourke, K. H.; Taylor, A. M., and Williamson, J. G. (1996), «Factor Price Convergence in the Late 19th Century», International Economic Review 37 (August), pp. 499–530.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'rourke, K. H., and Williamson, J. G. (1994), «Late 19th Century Anglo-American Factor Price Convergence: Were Heckscher and Ohlin Right?» Journal of Economic History 54 (December), pp. 892–916.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'rourke, K. H., and Williamson, J. G. (1997), «Around the European Periphery 1870–1913: Globalization, Schooling and Growth», European Review of Economic History 1 (August), pp. 153–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'rourke, K. H., and Williamson, J. G. (1999), Globalization and History (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parthasarathi, P. (1998), «Rethinking Wages and Competitiveness in the Eighteenth Century: Britain and South India», Past and Present 158 (February), pp. 79–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pomeranz, K. (1997), «Rethinking 18th Century China: A High Standard of Living and Its Implications», paper presented to the All-UC Group in Economic History Conference on Rethinking the History of Wages, Prices and Living Standards, Davis, California (November 14–16).Google Scholar
Radalet, S.; Sachs, J., and Lee, J.-W. (1997), «Economic Growth in Asia», Chap. 2 in Emerging Asia (Manila: Asian Development Bank).Google Scholar
Sachs, J. D., and Warner, A. (1995), «Natural Resource Abundance and Economic Growth», NBER Working Paper, n.° 5398, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Mass. (December).Google Scholar
Sánchez-Albornoz, N. (1974), trans, by Richardson, W., The Population of Latin America: A History (Berkeley, California: University of California Press).Google Scholar
Sánchez-Alonso, B. (1998), «What Slowed Down the Mass Migration from Spain in the Late Nineteenth Century?», paper presented to the Conference on Long Run Economic Change in the Mediterranean Basin, Istanbul, Turkey (June 4–7).Google Scholar
Sánchez-Alonso, B. (1999 forthcoming), «What Slowed Down the Mass Emigration from Spain Before WWI? A Comparison with Italy», Chap. 11 in Pamuk, S. and Williamson, J. G. (eds.), Economic Change in the Mediterranean Before 1950 (London: Roudedge, forthcoming).Google Scholar
Taylor, A. M. (1992), Argentine Economic Growth in Comparative Perspective, Ph. D. thesis, Department of Economics, Harvard University.Google Scholar
Taylor, A. M. (1994), «Mass Migration to Distant Southern Shores», in Hatton, T. J. and Williamson, J. G. (eds.), Migration and the International Labor Market, 1850–1939 (London: Roudedge).Google Scholar
Taylor, A. M., and Williamson, J. G. (1997), «Convergence in the Age of Mass Migration», European Review of Economic History 1 (April), pp. 27–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Timmer, A. S., and Williamson, J. G. (1998), «Immigration Policy Prior to the Thirties: Labor Markets, Policy Interactions and Globalization Backlash», Population and Development Review 24 (December), pp. 737–771.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williamson, J. G. (1965), «Regional Inequality and the Process of National Development», Economic Development and Cultural Change 13, 4, pt. II (July), Supplement.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williamson, J. G. (1995), «The Evolution of Global Labor Markets Since 1830: Background Evidence and Hypotheses», Explorations in Economic History 32 (April), pp. 141–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williamson, J. G. (1996), «Globalization, Convergence and History», Journal of Economic History 56 (June), pp. 277–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williamson, J. G. (1997), «Globalization and Inequality, Past and Present», World Bank Research Observer 12 (August), pp. 117–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williamson, J. G. (1998a), «Real Wages and Relative Factor Prices in the Third World 1820–1940: Asia», HIER Discussion Paper 1844, Department of Economics, Harvard University (August).Google Scholar
Williamson, J. G. (1998b), «Real Wages and Relative Factor Prices in the Third World 1820–1940: The Mediterranean Basin», HIER Discussion Paper 1842, Department of Economics, Harvard University (July).Google Scholar
Williamson, J. G. (1998c), «Real Wages and Relative Factor Prices in the Third World 1820–1940: Latin America», HIER Discussion Paper 1853, Department of Economics, Harvard University (November).Google Scholar
Williamson, J. G. (1998d), «Growth, Distribution and Demography: Some Lessons from History», Explorations in Economic History 35 (July), pp. 241–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williamson, J. G. (1999a forthcoming), «Real Wages, Inequality and Globalization in Asia Before 1840», in Latham, A. J. H. (ed.), Asia Pacific Dynamism 1500–2000 (London: Roudedge, forthcoming).Google Scholar
Williamson, J. G. (1999b forthcoming), «Real Wages and Relative Factor Prices Around the Mediterranean 1500–1940», Chp. 3 in Pamuk, S. and Williamson, J. G. (eds.), Economic Change in the Mediterranean Before 1950 (London: Routledge, forthcoming).Google Scholar
Wood, A. (1994), North-South Trade, Employment and Inequality: Changing Fortunes in a Skill-Driven World (Oxford: Clarendon Press).Google Scholar