Tag Archives: North America

On VoxEU, Peter Lindert summarizes his recent work on long-term international comparisons of living standards. Lindert compares nominal incomes per capita, deflated by historical prices (for staple goods). He makes five points: The real income gap between Northwest Europe and the major Asian countries was greater since the 1500s than even Maddison had estimated. Contrary to all previous estimates, Mughal India around 1600 was already far behind both Japan and Northwest Europe. Within...

The incoming US president Donald Trump has often struck a belligerent tone with regard to trade relations. Much of his anti-trade narrative – made public in tweets and remarks made on the campaign trail – has focused on China, raising concerns over trade frictions, if not an outright trade war. Yet what powers does the US president have in the area of...