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Prices, the military revolution, and western Europe's comparative advantage in violence

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  • PHILIP T. HOFFMAN

Abstract

Price data from England, France, and Germany show that the military sector in western Europe experienced rapid and sustained productivity growth well before the industrial revolution. The productivity growth has implications for the history of the military revolution in early modern Europe and helps explain why western Europe gained a comparative advantage in violence. It also raises questions about the economic impact of the military revolution.

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  • Philip T. Hoffman, 2011. "Prices, the military revolution, and western Europe's comparative advantage in violence," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 64(s1), pages 39-59, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:64:y:2011:i:s1:p:39-59
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/j.1468-0289.2010.00522.x
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    Cited by:

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    2. Oeindrila Dube & S.P. Harish, 2017. "Queens," NBER Working Papers 23337, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Morgan Kelly & Joel Mokyr & Cormac Ó Gráda, 2023. "The Mechanics of the Industrial Revolution," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 131(1), pages 59-94.
    4. Lagerlöf, Nils-Petter, 2014. "Population, technology and fragmentation: The European miracle revisited," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 87-105.
    5. Traviss Cassidy & Mark Dincecco & Massimiliano Gaetano Onorato, 2015. "The Economic Legacy of Warfare: Evidence from European Regions," Working Papers 6/2015, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, revised Jul 2015.
    6. Li Tan, 2013. "Market‐Supporting Institutions, Gild Organisations, and the Industrial Revolution: A Comparative View," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 53(3), pages 221-246, November.
    7. Kelly, Morgan & Ó Gráda, Cormac, 2022. "Connecting the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions: The Role of Practical Mathematics," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 82(3), pages 841-873, September.
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    9. Huning, Thilo R. & Wahl, Fabian, 2023. "You reap what you know: Appropriability and the origin of European states," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    10. Mark Dincecco & Massimiliano Onorato, 2013. "Military conflict and the economic rise of urban Europe," Working Papers 14006, Economic History Society.
    11. Schaff, Felix, 2020. "When ‘the state made war’, what happened to economic inequality? Evidence from preindustrial Germany (c.1400-1800)," Economic History Working Papers 107046, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    12. Harrison, Mark, 2011. "Capitalism at War," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 60, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    13. Schaff, Felix, 2020. "When ‘the state made war’, what happened to economic inequality? Evidence from preindustrial Germany (c.1400-1800)," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 107046, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

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