Gunes Gokmen
Associate senior lecturer
The imperial roots of global trade
Author
Summary, in English
Throughout history empires facilitated trade within their territories by building and securing trade and migration routes, and by imposing common norms, languages, religions, and legal systems, all of which led to the accumulation of imperial capital. In this paper, we collect novel data on the rise and fall of empires over the last 5000 years, construct a measure of accumulated imperial capital between countries, and estimate its relationship with trade patterns today. Our measure of imperial capital has a positive and significant effect on trade beyond potential historical legacies such as sharing a language, a religion, a legal system, or links via natural trade and invasion routes. This suggests a persistent and previously unexplored influence of long-gone empires on current trade.
Department/s
- Department of Economics
Publishing year
2020-03
Language
English
Pages
87-145
Publication/Series
Journal of Economic Growth
Volume
25
Issue
1
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Springer
Topic
- Economic History
- History of Technology
Keywords
- Empires
- Gravity
- Imperial capital
- Long-run persistence
- Trade
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1381-4338