Shocking Contrasts
Author | : Ronald L. Rogowski |
Publisher | : Cambridge University Press |
Total Pages | : 271 |
Release | : 2023-06-30 |
ISBN-10 | : 9781009037822 |
ISBN-13 | : 100903782X |
Rating | : 4/5 (22 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: In the fourteenth century, the Black Death killed as much as two thirds of Europe's population; in the fifteenth, the introduction of moveable-type printing rapidly expanded Europe's supply of human capital; between 1850 and 1914, Russia's population almost tripled; and in World War I, the British blockade starved some 800,000 Germans. Each of these, Shocking Contrasts argues, amounted to an unanticipated shock, positive or negative, to the supply of a crucial factor of production; and elicited one of four main responses: factor substitution; factor movement to a different sector or region; technological innovation; or political action, sometimes extending to coercion at home or conquest abroad. This book examines parsimonious models of factor returns, relative costs, and technological innovation. It offers a framework for understanding the role of supply shocks in major political conflicts and argues that its implications extend far beyond these specific cases to any period of human history.