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.