Has Eastern Europe always lagged behind the West? Historical evidence from Pre-1870

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Abstract

The collapse of communism in Central, East and South-East Europe led to great hopes in the early 1990s. Three decades on, the initial optimism has given way to a mixed assessment: while the political transformation appears irreversible in some countries, a relapse to more authoritarian forms of government has occurred elsewhere. Similarly, the economic catch-up process takes much longer than originally anticipated. Many of the challenges might not be a legacy of state socialism but could be more deeply rooted. We provide an overview of where quantitative economic history research stands on the origins and persistence of this fundamental West-East-divide, focusing on the period before 1870 (by which time income differences were well established). Serfdom was proposed as an early answer. Non-agricultural explanations fall into three strands: demography, institutional weaknesses, and market access. We briefly discuss to what extent the factors identified here might have generated long-run stagnation in region.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)S3-S21
Number of pages19
JournalReview of Income and Wealth
Volume68
Issue numberS1
Early online date5 Oct 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 29 Mar 2022

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