The quantitative development of Germany’s international trade during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries

Abstract

Distribution électronique Cairn.info pour OFCE. © OFCE. Tous droits réservés pour tous pays.La reproduction ou représentation de cet article, notamment par photocopie, n'est autorisée que dans les limites des conditions générales d'utilisation du site ou, le cas échéant, des conditions générales de la licence souscrite par votre établissement. Toute autre reproduction ou représentation, en tout ou partie, sous quelque forme et de quelque manière que ce soit, est interdite sauf accord préalable et écrit de l'éditeur, en dehors des cas prévus par la législation en vigueur en France. Il est précisé que son stockage dans une base de données est également interdit.The study assembles indirect evidence to establish the patterns of international trade in eighteenth-century Germany. Major results include:(1) International trade of Germany expanded at an annual rate of 1 per cent or slightly less in real terms between the 1730s and the early 1790s. Since GDP grew by about 0.5 per cent p. a. this implies an increase in openness.(2) Imports of colonial goods, most notably sugar and coffee, expanded at slightly less than 2 per cent p. a., which suggests that Germany participated in the development of the Atlantic economy. (3) The period saw import substitution of cottons, and towards the end of the eighteenth century exports of cotton goods partially compensated for sluggish growth of trade in linen, the chief export product. Trade growth seems to have resulted from an increased utilization of seasonally underemployed labour for the production of manufactures for export and contributed to the stabilization of per capita incomes in face of declining marginal labour productivity in agriculture.

Slave-based coffee in the eighteenth century and the role of the Dutch in global commodity chains

“…At the same time, there are various indications that the upstream-Rhine trade in this period was increasing. 9 However, this has hardly been put into the perspective of larger Atlantic developments. 10 This article affirms that the growth of the upstream-Rhine trade in this period was largely slave-based and explains this development by indicating its connection with the coffee boom.…”

Trade statistics of the Zollverein, 1834-1871

“…2. Pfister (2015), in this issue. e-mail: beatrice.dedinger@sciencespo.fr Document téléchargé depuis www.cairn.info -Institut d'Etudes Politiques de /04/2018 11h47.…”