Economic Growth in Southeastern Europe and Eastern Mediterranean, 1820-1914
Author: Sevket Pamuk
Abstract
This article brings together and analyzes data and other evidence from a variety of sources to provide an overview of the growth record of southeastern Europe and the Middle East from 1820 until the First World War. Average incomes in these two regions increased at long term rates between a half and one percent per year during the nineteenth century. Institutional changes and development of export oriented agriculture are seen as the main reasons for the increases in per capita incomes. However, the income gap between these two regions and the industrializing countries of western Europe and the United States steadily widened until 1914.