European Review of Economic History · 2004 · 93 citations · 30 references
Social SciencesEconomicsHistoryEconomic HistoryInternational TradeWorld HistoryEconomic GlobalizationEconomic HistoriographyGlobal Political EconomyGlobal TradeHistory Of Economic ThoughtNineteenth-century EuropeGlobal Economic HistoryHistory Of GlobalizationPath-dependence AnalysisWorld Economy
Globalisation is contested, with some historians claiming it spans centuries, but O’Rourke and Williamson argue it began in the early nineteenth century. The authors aim to show that a global economy did not exist before the early 19th century. They develop an explicit world‑trade model that predicts specific outcomes and support this claim with empirical evidence.
In a recent issue of the European Review of Economic History (vol. 6, 2002, pp. 23–50), Kevin O'Rourke and Jeffrey Williamson dismiss claims by ‘World historians…[who] argue that globalisation is a phenomenon which stretches back several centuries, or even several millennia’ (p. 23). Rather, O'Rourke and Williamson insist that ‘[g]lobalisation did not begin 5,000 years ago, or even 500 years ago. It began in the early nineteenth century. In that sense, it is a very modern phenomenon’ (p. 47). O'Rourke and Williamson offer an explicit model of world trade that predicts specific outcomes; and they marshal empirical evidence to support their contention that there was no global economy until the early decades of the nineteenth century.
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