Gregory Clark (economist)

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Gregory Clark (born September 19, 1957 in Bellshill , Scotland ) is a British economist . He is Professor of Economics at the University of California, Davis .

Life

Clark graduated from Cambridge University with a BA in Economics and Philosophy in 1979 . His Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University in 1985 . He then worked as a professor at Stanford University and the University of Michigan . Since 1990 he has been a professor at the University of California at Davis.

job

Clark's primary research field is economic history and in particular the industrial revolution .

A farewell to Alms

In 2007, Clark published A Farewell to Alms , in which he sets out his theory of the origin of the industrial revolution. In the first part, Clark describes the world before the industrial revolution as trapped in a Malthusian economy. This model is based on three assumptions:

These assumptions imply that only a lower birth rate or a higher death rate can improve the standard of living. Higher birth rates and lower death rates cause a decline in the standard of living. Technical progress only leads to a short-term improvement in the standard of living, which is brought back to the original level by a growing population.

Using extensive historical data, Clark shows that these implications corresponded to pre-1800 human reality. Despite considerable accumulated technical progress since the beginning of human history, there has been no improvement in the standard of living. The standard of living in England in the 18th century was no different from that of the Stone Age or today's hunters , in China it was even lower. Europe had a higher standard of living than East Asia , as it had a higher death rate due to poorer hygiene. War , violence and illness raised the standard of living. Peace , health and social security worsened the standard of living.

Clark describes some insurmountable problems in applying existing theories ( exogenous growth theories , multiple equilibria, and endogenous growth theories ) to explain the industrial revolution. Instead, it is more likely that factors inherent in Malthusian economics changed people's culture and genes . The Malthusian economy in England in particular rewarded qualities such as hard work , patience , literacy and non-violence . The English upper class, evolved through a Darwinian process ( Survival of the Richest ), spread these characteristics through social decline , which had resulted from the higher death rates and the lower fertility of the lower social classes. With the sufficient dissemination of these properties throughout society, the massive accumulation of innovations necessary for the industrial revolution and the resulting rapid rise in living standards began .

In the third part of the book, Clark analyzes possible explanations for the interstate divergence in per capita income since the Industrial Revolution. He shows that the differences in income can primarily be traced back to the quality of the production factor labor . A comparison of the British and Indian textile industries shows that Indian companies had to employ more workers per textile machine than British ones. The reason for this is probably due to differences in work ethics and discipline . Another reason for the divergence is the possibility of using medical advances to keep incomes below subsistence and pre-industrial levels. Third, modern technologies could provide additional reward for high quality work. Overall, however, the evidence is too weak to adequately support this and other explanatory approaches.

reception

The book provoked an intense discussion in the scientific community and in the international media landscape. First and foremost, Clark's theory of the Survival of the Richest as an explanation of the Industrial Revolution and the focus on cultural differences between societies, reminiscent of the work of Max Weber , were discussed. In addition, his neglect of the institutional economics, which is widespread in economics, was criticized. The German historian André S. Steiner certifies that Clark wrote an easily readable overview of economic history, but criticizes the Social Darwinist argumentation.

Books

scientific publications

  • Authority and Efficiency. The Labor Market and the Managerial Revolution of the Late Nineteenth Century. In: Journal of Economic History. Volume 44, December 1984, pp. 1069-1083.
  • Why Isn't the Whole World Developed? Lessons from the Cotton Mills. In: Journal of Economic History. Volume 47, March 1987, pp. 141-173.
  • Productivity Growth Without Technical Change in European Agriculture Before 1850. In: Journal of Economic History. Volume 47, June 1987, pp. 419-432.
  • The Cost of Capital and Medieval Agricultural Technique. In: Explorations in Economic History. Volume 25, July 1988, pp. 265-294.
  • Yields per acre in English Agriculture 1266–1860. Evidence from Payments to Labor. In: Economic History Review. August 1991, pp. 445-460.
  • Labor Productivity in English Agriculture, 1300-1860. In: BMS Campbell and Mark Overton: Agricultural Productivity in the European Past. Manchester University Press, Manchester 1991, pp. 211-235.
  • The Economics of Exhaustion, the Postan Thesis, and the Agricultural Revolution. In: Journal of Economic History. Volume 52, March 1992, pp. 61-84.
  • Economic Growth in Theory and History. A review essay. In: Theory and Society. 1993, pp. 871-886.
  • Agriculture and the Industrial Revolution, 1700-1850. In: Joel Mokyr (Ed.): The British Industrial Revolution. An economic assessment. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado 1993, pp. 227-266.
  • Factory Discipline. In: Journal of Economic History. Volume 54, March 1994, pp. 128-163.
  • with Michael Huberman and Peter Lindert: A British Food Puzzle. In: Economic History Review. Volume 68, May 1995, pp. 215-237.
  • The Political Foundations of Modern Economic Growth. England, 1540-1800. In: Journal of Interdisciplinary History. Volume 26, Spring 1996, pp. 563-588. Reprinted in: Robert I. Rotberg (Ed.): Social Mobility and Modernization. A Journal of Interdisciplinary History Reader. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass 2000.
  • A Precocious Infant. The Grain Market in England 1207-1770. In: G. Federico, J. Ljundberg, KG Persson and L. Schon (Eds.): Integration of Commodity Markets in History. 1998.
  • The Charity Commissioners as a Source in English Economic History. In: Research in Economic History. Volume 18, 1998, pp. 1-52.
  • with Ysbrand van der Werf: Work in Progress. The Industrious Revolution? In: Journal of Economic History. Volume 58, No. 3, September 1998, pp. 830-843.
  • Land hunger. Land as a Commodity and as a Status Good in England, 1500-1910. In: Explorations in Economic History. Volume 35, No. 1, January 1998, pp. 59-82.
  • Commons Scythe. Common Property Rights, Efficiency, and Institutional Change. In: Journal of Economic History. Volume 58, No. 1, March 1998, pp. 73-102.
  • Too Much Revolution. Agriculture and the Industrial Revolution, 1700-1860. In: Joel Mokyr (Ed.): The British Industrial Revolution. An economic assessment. 2nd Edition, Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado 1999, pp. 206-240
  • with Susan Wolcott: Why Nations Fail. Managerial Decisions and Performance in Indian Cotton Textiles, 1890-1938. In: Journal of Economic History. Vol. 59, No. 2, 1999, pp. 397-423.
  • Debt, Deficits, and Crowding Out. England, 1727-1840. In: European Review of Economic History. Volume 5, No. 3, December 2001, pp. 403-436.
  • with Anthony Clark: The Enclosure of English Common Lands, 1475–1839. In: Journal of Economic History. Volume 61, No. 4, December 2001, pp. 1009-1036.
  • Farm Wages and Living Standards in the Industrial Revolution. England, 1670-1870. In: Economic History Review. Volume 54, No. 3, August 2001, pp. 477-505.
  • Shelter from the Storm. Housing and the Industrial Revolution, 1550-1912. In: Journal of Economic History. Volume 62, No. 2, June 2002.
  • Farmland Rental Values ​​and Agrarian History. England and Wales, 1500-1912. In: European Review of Economic History. Volume 6, No. 3, December 2002, pp. 281-309.
  • with Susan Wolcott: One Polity, Many Countries. Economic Growth in India, 1873-2000. In: Dani Rodrik (Ed.): Frontiers of Economic Growth. Princeton University Press, Princeton 2003.
  • with Robert Feenstra: Technology in the Great Divergence. In: Michael Bordo , Alan M. Taylor, Jeffrey G. Williamson (Eds.): Globalization in Historical Perspective. University of Chicago Press for the NBER, Chicago 2003.
  • The Price History of English Agriculture, 1209-1914. In: Research in Economic History. Volume 22, 2004, pp. 41-124.
  • with Eric Jamelske: The Efficiency Gains from Site Value Taxes. The Tithe Commutation Act of 1836. In: Explorations in Economic History. Volume 42, No. 2, 2005, pp. 282-309.
  • Human Capital, Fertility and the Industrial Revolution. In: Journal of the European Economic Association. Volume 3, No. 2-3, 2005, pp. 505-515.
  • The Condition of the Working Class in England, 1209-2004. In: Journal of Political Economy. Volume 113, No. 6, December 2005, pp. 1307-1340.
  • with Gillian Hamilton: Survival of the Richest. The Malthusian Mechanism in Pre-Industrial England. In: Journal of Economic History. Volume 66, No. 3, September 2006, pp. 707-736.
  • What made Britannia great? How much of the rise of Britain to world dominance by 1850 does the Industrial Revolution explain? In: Tim Hatton, Kevin O'Rourke and Alan Taylor (Eds.): Comparative Economic History. Essays in honor of Jeffrey Williamson. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass. 2007, pp. 33-57.
  • The Long March of History. Farm Wages, Population and Economic Growth, England 1209–1869. In: Economic History Review. Volume 60, No. 1, February 2007, pp. 97-136.
  • with David Jacks: Coal and the Industrial Revolution, 1700–1869. In: European Review of Economic History. Volume 11, No. 1, April 2007, pp. 39-72.
  • A Review of Avner Greif's, Institutions, and the Path to the Modern Economy. In: Journal of Economic Literature. Volume XLV, September 2007, pp. 727-743.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ André S. Steiner: Review by Gregory Clark: A Farewell to Alms . In: sehepunkte 9 (2009), accessed on October 2, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Clark, Gregory
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British economist
DATE OF BIRTH September 19, 1957
PLACE OF BIRTH Bellshill , Scotland