Global Income Divergence, Trade and Industrialisation: The Geography of Growth Take-Offs

Arbeitspapier

This paper takes a step towards formalizing the theoretical interconnections among four post-Industrial Revolution phenomena - the industrialization and growth take-off of rich 'northern' nations, massive global income divergence, and rapid trade expansion. Specifically, we present a stages-of growth model in which the four phenomena are jointly endogenous and all are trigged by a gradual fall in the cost of doing business internationally. In the first stage, while trade costs are high, industry is dispersed and growth is low. In the second stage, the north industrializes rapidly, growth takes off and the south diverges. In the third stage, high growth becomes self sustaining. The model shows under which conditions, in a fourth stage, the south can quickly industrialize and converge.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IUI Working Paper ; No. 496

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Global Outlook ; Economic Growth of Open Economies ; Economic History: Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations: Europe: Pre-1913 ; International Linkages to Development; Role of International Organizations
• Subject: Growth Take-Off ; Industrial Revolution ; Economic Geography ; Endogenous Growth ; Trade and Development ; Wirtschaftswachstum ; Entwicklungskonvergenz ; Industrialisierung ; Internationale Wirtschaftsbeziehungen ; Entwicklungsstufe ; Neue Wachstumstheorie ; Theorie

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Baldwin, Richard E. ; Martin, Philippe ; Ottaviano, Gianmarco I.P.
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): The Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IUI)
• (where): Stockholm
• (when): 1998

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/94754
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET