Colonialism and Industrialization: Empirical Results

This paper presents theory and evidence to show that imperialism was a major factor impeding the spread of the industrial revolution during the century ending in the 1950s. Two empirical results stand out. First, analysis of historical evidence shows that most sovereign countries were implementing active industrial policies during the nineteenth century, while policies in dependent countries were biased in the opposite direction. Second, when allowance is made for economic determinants, industrialization in dependent countries in 1960 is found to be significantly lower than in sovereign countries. This result is shown to be quite robust to changes in data, sample size, functional forms, and specifications of the estimating equations. In particular, the basic results are not affected by the inclusion of a dummy for Sub-Saharan Africa

Segregation in a fluidized binary granular mixture: Competition between buoyancy and geometric forces

Starting from the hydrodynamic equations of binary granular mixtures, we derive an evolution equation for the relative velocity of the intruders, which is shown to be coupled to the inertia of the smaller particles. The onset of Brazil-nut segregation is explained as a competition between the buoyancy and geometric forces: the Archimedean buoyancy force, a buoyancy force due to the difference between the energies of two granular species, and two geometric forces, one compressive and the other-one tensile in nature, due to the size-difference. We show that inelastic dissipation strongly affects the phase diagram of the Brazil nut phenomenon and our model is able to explain the experimental results of Breu et al. (PRL, 2003, vol. 90, p. 01402).Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Direct numerical simulation of 'short' laminar separation bubbles with turbulent reattachment

Direct numerical simulation of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations is used to study flows where laminar boundary-layer separation is followed by turbulent reattachment forming a closed region known as a laminar separation bubble. In the simulations a laminar boundary layer is forced to separate by the action of a suction profile applied as the upper boundary condition. The separated shear layer undergoes transition via oblique modes and [Lambda]-vortex-induced breakdown and reattaches as turbulent flow, slowly recovering to an equilibrium turbulent boundary layer. Compared with classical experiments the computed bubbles may be classified as ‘short’, as the external potential flow is only affected in the immediate vicinity of the bubble. Near reattachment budgets of turbulence kinetic energy are dominated by turbulence events away from the wall. Characteristics of near-wall turbulence only develop several bubble lengths downstream of reattachment. Comparisons are made with two-dimensional simulations which fail to capture many of the detailed features of the full three-dimensional simulations. Stability characteristics of mean flow profiles are computed in the separated flow region for a family of velocity profiles generated using simulation data. Absolute instability is shown to require reverse flows of the order of 15–20%. The three-dimensional bubbles with turbulent reattachment have maximum reverse flows of less than 8% and it is concluded that for these bubbles the basic instability is convective in nature

Some Economic Results of the Civilizing Mission

This paper proposes three tasks. It briefly delineates the character of the civilizing mission and the interests it served, especially the colonization of Asia and Africa. In addition, the claims of the civilizing mission and the neoclassical theory of trade are tested empirically by comparing growth rates of sovereign countries and colonies, and of colonies before and after they gained sovereignty. Finally, we offer a quick review of the changing dynamics of the global economy as goods which were hitherto non-tradable become increasingly tradable.Civilizing mission; imperialism; colonization; global economy; neoclassical theory; free trade; growth rates; non-tradable goods; tradable goods

Global Disparities Since 1800:Trends and Regional Patterns

This paper reviews the growing body of evidence on the relative economic standing of different regions of the world in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In general, it does not find support for Eurocentric claims regarding Western Europe’s early economic lead. The Eurocentric claims are based primarily on estimates of a per capita income, which are plagued by conceptual problems, make demands on historical data that are generally unavailable, and they use questionable assumptions to reconstruct early per capita income. A careful examination of these conjectural estimates of per capita income, however, does not support claims that Western Europe had a substantial lead over the rest of the world at the beginning of the nineteenth century. An examination of several alternative indices of living standards in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries – such as real wages, labor productivity in agriculture, and urbanization – also fails to confirm claims of European superiority. In addition, this paper examines the progress of global disparities – including the presence of regional patterns – using estimates of per capita income.Global economy; Disparities; Regional patterns; Per capita income; Real wages; Labor productivity; Agriculture; Eurocentric