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Economic Conditions in Early Modern Bengal: A Contribution to the Divergence Debate

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  • Roy, Tirthankar

Abstract

The paper contributes to the debate on relative levels of living in the early modern world by estimating the income of and probable range of income growth in Bengal before European colonization. The exercise yields two conclusions, (a) average income in Bengal was significantly smaller than that in contemporary Western Europe, and (b) there is insufficient basis to infer either growth or decline in average income in the 50 years before colonization and the century after. The former conclusion is relevant to the discussion on the origins of international economic inequality, or ?divergence?, and the latter is relevant to the scholarship that considers the economic effects of colonialism.

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  • Roy, Tirthankar, 2009. "Economic Conditions in Early Modern Bengal: A Contribution to the Divergence Debate," CEPR Discussion Papers 7522, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:7522
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    1. Studer, Roman, 2008. "India and the Great Divergence: Assessing the Efficiency of Grain Markets in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century India," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 68(2), pages 393-437, June.
    2. Roy, Tirthankar, 2011. "Economic History of India, 1857-1947," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, edition 3, number 9780198074175.
    3. Alan W. Heston, 1977. "The Standard of Living in Akbar's Time: A Comment," The Indian Economic & Social History Review, , vol. 14(3), pages 391-396, July.
    4. Stephen Broadberry & Bishnupriya Gupta, 2006. "The early modern great divergence: wages, prices and economic development in Europe and Asia, 1500–1800," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 59(1), pages 2-31, February.
    5. Landes,David S., 2003. "The Unbound Prometheus," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521826662, September.
    6. Landes,David S., 2003. "The Unbound Prometheus," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521534024, September.
    7. C. W. J. Granger & C. M. Elliott, 1967. "A Fresh Look at Wheat Prices and Markets in the Eighteenth Century," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 20(2), pages 257-265, August.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Broadberry, Stephen & Custodis, Johann & Gupta, Bishnupriya, 2015. "India and the great divergence: An Anglo-Indian comparison of GDP per capita, 1600–1871," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 58-75.
    2. Roy, Tirthankar, 2023. "The Permanent Settlement and the emergence of a British state in late-eighteenth-century India," Economic History Working Papers 119477, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    3. Broadberry, Stephen & Gupta, Bishnu, 2010. "Indian GDP, 1600 -1870: Some Preliminary Estimates Comparison with Britain," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 07, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    4. Broadberry, Stephen, 2013. "Accounting for the great divergence," Economic History Working Papers 54573, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    5. Peter H. Lindert, 2016. "Purchasing Power Disparity before 1914," NBER Working Papers 22896, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Ewout Frankema & Marlous van Waijenburg, 2011. "African Real Wages in Asian Perspective, 1880-1940," Working Papers 0002, Utrecht University, Centre for Global Economic History.
    7. Jutta Bolt & Jan Luiten Zanden, 2014. "The Maddison Project: collaborative research on historical national accounts," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 67(3), pages 627-651, August.
    8. Tirthankar Roy, 2012. "Consumption Of Cotton Cloth In India, 1795–1940," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 52(1), pages 61-84, March.
    9. Broadberry, Stephen & Gupta, Bishnupriya, 2010. "Indian GDP Before 1870: Some Preliminary Estimates and a Comparison with Britain," CEPR Discussion Papers 8007, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Pim de Zwart, 2012. "Population, labour and living standards in early modern Ceylon: An empirical contribution to the divergence debate," The Indian Economic & Social History Review, , vol. 49(3), pages 365-398, September.
    11. Pim de Zwart & Jan Lucassen, 2020. "Poverty or prosperity in northern India? New evidence on real wages, 1590s–1870s," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 73(3), pages 644-667, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    National income; Comparative development; Colonial india;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N10 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • N15 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Asia including Middle East

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