We exploit the natural experiment of Japan’s opening to international trade to examine how comparative advantage can shape a country’s long-run path towards financial development. In the late 19th century, many of Japan’s prefectures had a natural comparative advantage in silk reeling....

We exploit the natural experiment of Japan’s opening to international trade to examine how comparative advantage can shape a country’s long-run path towards financial development. In the late 19th century, many of Japan’s prefectures had a natural comparative advantage in silk reeling....

Production: the development of sericulture and interacting with the natural environment -- Trade: negotiations between central governments and local societies -- Fashion: the desire for luxury silk, the color red, and foreignness -- Regulation: sumptuary laws and the decline of the traditional...

"This book describes the central role that these exotic luxuries - spices, scents and silks - played in the lives of the ancients, traces the development of the great international trade networks that delivered them, and explores how the demand for such luxuries shaped the world."

"Spontaneous Generation and Marvellous Transformations Under magnification, the fibres of cotton, linen, and wool appear twisted, hatched, knobbly or scaled. In contrast, silk strands were described in 1665 by the first English micrographer as "small, round, hard, transparent, and to their...

The concept of the Silk Road Economic Belt put forward by China in September 2013 has two major dimensions: ‘the Road' and ‘the Belt'. This article argues that building ‘the Road' may lead to: (a) the transformation of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) from hitherto primarily...

Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- The early modern Japanese economy -- The failure of the temp? : reforms and the opening of Yokohama -- The first merchant of Yokohama -- Bakumatsu Japan's trade and Yokohama's place in that trade -- Yokohama and its hinterland -- The producers of...

Intro -- Table of contents -- Preface -- Introduction: Silk on the Silk Roads. Exchange between East and West in Antiquity Berit Hildebrandt -- 1. Looking towards the West - how the Chinese viewed the Romans Liu Xinru -- 2. Textiles and trade in South Asia during the Proto-Historic and Early...

Sharon Farmer analyzes the evidence concerning the medieval silk industry, adding new perspectives to our understanding of medieval French history, luxury trade, labor migration, intercultural exchange, and gendered work