Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Book production and the onset of modern economic growth

  • Published:
Journal of Economic Growth Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We provide a new data set on per capita book production as a proxy for advanced literacy skills, and assess this relative to other measures. While literacy proxies very basic skills, book production per capita is an indicator for more advanced capabilities. Growth theory suggests that human capital formation plays a significant role in creating the ‘wealth of nations.’ This study tests whether human capital formation has an impact on early-modern growth disparities. In contrast to some previous studies which denied the role of human capital as a crucial determinant of long-term growth, we confirm its importance.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Acemoglu D., Johnson S., Robinson J. (2001) The colonial origins of comparative development: An empirical investigation. American Economic Review 91(5): 1369–1401

    Google Scholar 

  • Acemoglu, D., Johnson, S., & Robinson, J. (2002). The rise of Europe: Atlantic trade, institutional change and economic growth. NBER Working Paper 9378.

  • Allen R.C. (2001) The great divergence in European wages and prices. Explorations in Economic History 38: 411–447. doi:10.1006/exeh.2001.0775

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allen R.C. (2003) Progress and poverty in early modern Europe. Economic History Review LVI- 3: 403–443. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0289.2003.00257.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alvarez Nogal, C. A., & Prados de la Escosura, L. (2007). Searching for the roots of retardation: Spain in European perspective, 1500–1850. Working Paper Univ. Carlos III de Madrid.

  • Anderson M., Lee R.D. (2002) ‘Malthus in state space: Macro economic-demographic relations in english history, 1540–1870. Journal of Population Economics 15(2): 195–220

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arnold, J., Bassanini, A., & Scarpetta, S. (2007). Solow or Lucas? Testing growth models using panel data from OECD countries. OECD Economics Dept. Working Papers 592.

  • Baten, J., & van Zanden, J. L. (2006). The impact of human capital on early modern welfare growth, 1450–1913: Book production as a human capital indicator. Working Paper Univ. Tuebingen/Univ. Utrecht.

  • Boucekkine R., Croix D., Licandro O. (2003) Early mortality declines at the dawn of modern growth. Scandinavian Journal of Economics 105(3): 401–418. doi:10.1111/1467-9442.t01-2-00005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boucekkine R., Croix D., Peeters D. (2007) Early literacy achievements, population density, and the transition to modern growth. Journal of the European Economic Association 5(1): 183–226

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boucekkine, R., de la Croix, D., & Peeters, D. (2008). Disentangling the demographic determinants of the english take-off: 1530–1860. Population and Development Review (forthcoming).

  • Chartier R., Compère M.M., Julia D. (1976) L’Éducation en France di XVIe au XVIIIe Siècle. Sedes, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark G. (2007) A farewell to alms: A brief economic history of the world. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Cressy D. (1980) Literacy and the social order–reading and writing in Tudor and Stuart England. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Croix D., Doepke M. (2004) Public versus private education when differential fertility matters. Journal of Development Economics 73(2): 607–629. doi:10.1016/j.jdeveco.2003.05.005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Darnton R. (2002) Book production in British India, 1850–1900. Book History 5: 239–262. 10.1353/bh.2002.0005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Durlauf, S. et al. (2005). Growth econometrics. In Ph. Aghion & S. Durlauf (Eds.), Handbook of economic growth. North-Holland.

  • Eisenstein, E. L. (1979). The printing press as an agent of change. Communications and cultural transformations in early-modern Europe, Cambridge University Press.

  • Fleury M., Valmary P. (1957) Les progrès de l’instruction élémentaire de Louis XIV à Napoléon III, d’après l’enquète de Louis Maggiolo 1877–1879. Population 12: 71–92. doi:10.2307/1525321

    Google Scholar 

  • Galor O. (2005) From stagnation to growth: Unified growth theory. In: Aghion Ph., Durlauf S.(eds) Handbook of economic growth. North-Holland, Amsterdom

    Google Scholar 

  • Galor O., Moav O. (2002) Natural selection and the origin of economic growth. Quarterly Journal of Economics 117: 1133–1192. doi:10.1162/003355302320935007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galor O., Weil D.N. (2000) ‘Population, technology and growth: From the malthusian regime to the demographic transition. American Economic Review 90: 806–828

    Google Scholar 

  • Glaeser E.L., La Porta R., Lopez-de-Silanes F., Shleifer A. (2004) Do institutions cause growth?. Journal of Economic Growth 9: 271–303

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graff H.J. (1987) The legacies of literacy. Indiana University Press, Bloomington

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayami, A., & Kitô, H. (1999). Demography and living standards. In A. Hayami, O. Saito, & R. P. Toby (Eds.), The economic history of Japan: 1600–1990. Volume I: Emergence of economic society in Japan 1600–1859 (pp. 213–247). Oxford University Press.

  • Herlihy D. (1997) The black death and the transformation of the west. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoeppner Moran J.A. (1985) The growth of English schooling 1340–1548: learning, literacy and laicization in pre-reformation york diocese. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey

    Google Scholar 

  • Houdaille J. (1977) Les signatures au mariage de 1740 à 1829. Population 32: 65–90. doi:10.2307/1531591

    Google Scholar 

  • Isa, Z. (1972). Printing and publishing in Indonesia: 1602–1970. Indiana University.

  • Koepke N., Baten J. (2005) The biological standard of living during the last two millennia. European Review of Economic History 9(1): 61–97

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kremer M.J. (1993) Population growth and technological change: 1,000,000 B.C. to 1990. Quarterly Journal of Economics 108: 681–716. doi:10.2307/2118405

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Leeuwen, B. (2007). Human capital and economic growth in Asia. An historical and quantitative analysis of India, Indonesia and Japan, 1890–2000. Manuscript Ph D thesis, Amsterdam.

  • Maddison A. (2001) The world economy: A millennial perspective. OECD, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Marker G. (1982) Russia and the ‘Printing Revolution’: notes and observations. Slavic Review 41: 266–284. doi:10.2307/2496343

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCleary R.M., Barro R.J. (2006) Religion and economy. Journal of Economic Perspectives 20(2): 49–72. doi:10.1257/jep.20.2.49

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mitch D. (1993) The role of human capital in the first industrial revolution. In: Mokyr J.(eds) The British industrial revolution: An economic perspective. Westview Press, Boulder

    Google Scholar 

  • Mokyr, J. (2002). The gifts of Athena. Historical origins of the knowledge society. Princeton University Press.

  • Mokyr, J., & Voth, H.-J. (2007). Understanding growth in Europe, 1700–1870: Theory and evidence. Working Paper NWU/UPF.

  • de Moor, C., & van Zanden, J. L. (2005). Girlpower. The European Marriage Pattern (EMP) and Labour Markets in the North Sea Region in the Late Medieval and Early Modern Period. Paper for the workshop ‘The Rise, Organization, and Institutional Framework of Factor Markets’, Amsterdam 2005.

  • Nalle S. (1989) Literacy and early modern culture in early modern castile. Past and Present 125: 65–96. doi:10.1093/past/125.1.65

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pamuk S. (2007) The black death and the origins of the ‘Great Divergence’ across Europe, 1300–1600. European Review of Economic History 11: 289–317. doi:10.1017/S1361491607002031

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pomeranz, K. (2000). The great divergence: Europe, China, and the making of the modern world economy. Princeton University Press.

  • Reis J. (2005) Economic growth, human capital formation and consumption in western Europe before 1800. In: Allen R.C., Bengtsson T., Dribe M.(eds) Living standards in the past. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 195–225

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • St. Clair W. (2004) The reading nation in the romantic period. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Stephens W.B. (1990) Literacy in England, Scotland, and Wales, 1500–1900. History of Education Quarterly 30: 545–71. doi:10.2307/368946

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsuen-Hsuin T. (1985) Paper and printing. Cambridge University Press, Science and civilization in China (Vol 5). Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Vandenbroeke C. (1985) Sociale Geschiedenis van het Vlaamse Volk. Leuven, Kritak

    Google Scholar 

  • Zanden J.L. (1991) The first green revolution. The growth of production and productivity in European agriculture. Economic History Review XLIV: 215–239

    Google Scholar 

  • van Zanden, J. L. (2004). Common workmen, philosophers and the birth of the European knowledge economy. About the price and the production of useful knowledge in Europe 1350–1800. Paper for the GEHN conference on Useful Knowledge, Leiden, September 2004; revised 12 October 2004.

  • Weber Max (1958) The protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. Scribner, New York

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, and CESifo, University of Tuebingen, Mohlstrasse 36, Tuebingen, 72074, Germany

    Joerg Baten

  2. Utrecht University and Internation Institute Social History, Cruquiusweg 31, Amsterdam, 1019AT, The Netherlands

    Jan Luiten van Zanden

Authors
  1. Joerg Baten
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jan Luiten van Zanden
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joerg Baten.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Baten, J., van Zanden, J.L. Book production and the onset of modern economic growth. J Econ Growth 13, 217–235 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10887-008-9031-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10887-008-9031-9

Keywords

JEL Classifications

Search

Navigation