Globalization and the Colonial Origins of the Great Divergence : Intercontinental Trade and Living Standards in the Dutch East India Company’s Commercial Empire, c. 1600-1800

This dissertation is about the link between global trade and economic development in the early modern period. Newly gathered price data on the Dutch-Asiatic trade suggests that commodity markets in Europe and Asia became more integrated over the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This market integration was made possible by reductions in transport cost and increased maritime competition, but was significantly affected by differences in the VOCs ability to control commodity markets. Where commodities were traded between competitive markets, price convergence took place. In many of the purcha... Mehr ...