List of figures; List of tables; List of boxes; Preface; Acknowledgements; 1. Introduction: scarcity and frontiers; 2. The agricultural transition (from 10,000 BC to 3000 BC); 3. The rise of cities (from 3000 BC to 1000 AD); 4. The emergence of the world economy (from 1000 to 1500); 5. Global frontiers and the rise of Western Europe (from 1500 to 1914); 6. The Atlantic economy triangular trade (from 1500 to 1860); 7. The golden age of resource-based development (from 1870 to 1914); 8. The age of dislocation (from 1914 to 1950); 9. The contemporary era (from 1950 to present); 10. Epilogue: the age of ecological scarcity?; Index.
A fascinating account of the contribution that natural resource exploitation has made to economic development in world history.
Edward B. Barbier is the John S. Bugas Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics and Finance, University of Wyoming. He has over twenty-five years' experience as an environmental and resource economist, working mainly on the economics of environment and development issues. He is the author of many books on environmental policy, including Natural Resources and Economic Development (Cambridge University Press, 2005) and, with David Pearce, Blueprint for a Sustainable Economy (2000).
'In his masterly and timely book, Ed Barbier rescues the resource
endowment from its surprisingly passive role in development
economics. He details the succession of natural resources which
Bagehot's 'conquering swarm' of humanity has used to fuel its
expansion. The pointers in the past from which a world of
ecological scarcity may learn are fully revealed in this
encyclopaedic study.' Eric L. Jones, author of The European Miracle
(2003) and Growth Recurring (2000)
'Wide-ranging in time (from 10,000 BC to the present day) and space
(with case studies drawn from many parts of the world), this is a
major and path-breaking analysis of the role of natural resources
and the expansion of populations into new frontiers in shaping the
evolution of economic and social changes. Based upon extremely wide
reading and a detailed knowledge of the issues, this book adds to
our understanding of past events while providing suggestions for
handling today's resource and climate problems.' Stanley L.
Engerman, University of Rochester
'In this tour de force, Ed Barbier brings to bear the full weight
of history on economics' age-old question about the significance of
natural resource endowments for economic performance. Proceeding
from the Paleolithic to the present, Barbier tests the ideas of
natural-resource economics against the record of our species'
efforts to make use of our environment. Economists, historians, and
especially economic historians will learn from and admire this book
for decades to come.' John R. McNeill, University of Georgetown
'Edward Barbier's interpretation of the economic history of
nations, seen through the lens of natural resource exploitation, is
not only bold but brilliantly executed. The scholarship is immense
and the analysis is acute. This is a terrific piece of work.' Sir
Partha Dasgupta, University of Cambridge
'Ed Barbier's new book, Scarcity and Frontiers: How Economies Have
Evolved through Natural Resource Exploitation, is vast in scope and
remarkable in the breadth and depth of knowledge brought to bear on
its central thesis - that the exploitation of natural resources and
the expansion of frontiers in response to natural resource scarcity
have been pivotal forces in the evolution of civilizations. Tracing
long spans of pre-industrial history, Barbier demonstrates how
expansion into unoccupied frontier areas provided the agricultural
surpluses and natural resource raw materials needed to fuel
economic growth in emerging civilizations. Particularly instructive
are his comparisons between the fates of once powerful empires that
failed to secure access to natural resource materials beyond their
borders, and suffered economic stagnation and eventual decline as a
consequence once their frontiers were closed, and the experience of
western Europe, whose superior institutions of commerce and mastery
of the seas enabled the exploitation of frontiers and natural
resources globally and led to economic ascendancy during the age of
exploration. Barbier's aim in writing this book is no less sweeping
in scope, to help present day civilizations learn from these
experiences and better understand how to cope with the coming age
of ecological resource scarcity. He has produced an indispensable
contribution in pursuit of that goal.' Robert T. Deacon, University
of California, Santa Barbara
'Ed Barbier has expanded his interest in problems of scarcity and
marginalization in contemporary societies to a broadly based look
at frontiers in a very long historical context, charting the
interaction of economic growth and the resource frontier from the
origins of settled agriculture to current concerns over the
sustainability of expanding resource exploitation.' Knick Harley,
Oxford University
'This book provides an ambitious re-interpretation of world
economic history based on the notion of the frontier. Rather than a
feature of US exceptionalism frontier expansion becomes central to
explaining comparative historical development. This is a powerful
and thought provoking work.' James Robinson, Harvard University
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