Voigtländer, Nico; Voth, Joachim - Department of Economics and Business, Universitat … - 2008
How did Europe escape the "Iron Law of Wages?" We construct a simple Malthusian model with two sectors and multiple steady states, and use it to explain why European per capita incomes and urbanization rates increased during the period 1350-1700. Productivity growth can only explain a small...