New World Economies: The Growth of the Thirteen Colonies and Early Canada

by Marc Egnal

Overview

New World Economies: The Growth of the Thirteen Colonies and Early Canada examines the economic development of both the original American colonies and early French Canada, looking at the impact of changing prices, capital flows, and shifts in demand. It is a companion volume to Marc Egnal's well-regarded earlier book, Divergent Paths, which emphasized the influence of culture and institutions upon growth. New World Economies studies transatlantic ties and sets forth a rigorous model to explain the pattern of growth. It features seventeen tables and more than one hundred graphs, many of which are based on original data. Several appendices present these valuable new statistics.

Egnal's core argument is that the pace of economic development in the colonies reflected the rate of growth in the mother country. In advancing this central notion, the book employs a theoretical foundation that builds upon, and then moves beyond, the traditional "staple thesis." Thoroughly documented and rich in quantitative data, this study traces the trajectory of economic growth by region and establishes a clear connection between colonial and European rates of growth.

Given its clear arguments, its rich data, and its persuasive overall method, New World Economies will interest scholars and students of economic history, of American and French-Canadian colonial culture, and of transatlantic relations during the eighteenth century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195114829
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	11/12/1998
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)
Lexile:	1240L (what's this?)

About the Author

Marc Egnal earned his M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin, and has received Fulbright and Ford Fellowships. He is currently Associate Professor of History at York University, and is also the author of Divergent Paths: How Culture and Institutions Have Shaped North American Growth (Oxford University Press, 1996) and A Mighty Empire: The Origins of the American Revolution (1988).

Table of Contents

	List of Figures and Tables	xiii
	List of Abbreviations	xix
1.	Introduction: A Brief March through the Thickets of Economic Theory	3
Part I	The Thirteen Colonies
2.	Two Cycles of British Growth	25
3.	Thirteen Colonies: Portrait of an Aggregate	37
4.	Northern Colonies	46
5.	Upper South	78
6.	Lower South	99
Part II	Canada Under The French Regime
7.	The French Connection	121
8.	A Cycle of Slow Growth in Canada, 1665-1713	128
9.	A Long Swing of Canadian Expansion, 1713-1760	142
	Concluding Note	166
	Appendices
A.	Philadelphia Textile Prices	171
B.	English Textile Prices	177
C.	Montreal Dry Goods Prices	182
D.	Maritime Insurance, Philadelphia to or from London	184
E.	Antigua Prices	186
	Notes	189
	Index	221

Editorial Reviews

"Within a relatively short compass Egnal provides considerable detail and comparative analysis...This book is stimulating and thought-provoking..."—Choice

"We should applaud Egnal's effort to build a model that simultaneously compares New World regions and incorporates them into the transatlantic economy."—Journal of Southern History

"New World Economics is unusually interesting, challenging, and absorbingly well-written. Its elaborately comparative structure—England and France; the thirteen colonies and Quebec; the North, the Upper South, and the Lower South—gives the reader command over an immense palette."—Agricultural History

"Drawing upon numerous quantitative and non-quantitative sources, Marc Egnal has presented an important analysis of the economic development in the thirteen colonies of British North America and in French Canada in the period before the American Revolution. With its detailed examination of major issues, New World Economies joins Egnal's recent Divergent Paths as essential reading for understanding the causes and consequences of economic changes and their implications for broader political and cultural questions."—Stanley L. Engerman, University of Rochester

"A bright light on the darkest era of American economic history. This is an important and useful book, for its refinement of the existing theoretical frame, its wealth of empirical data, its breath of context, and especially for its study of synchronic change in the Atlantic world of the eighteenth century. Marc Egnal is the master of this subject. We have much to learn from him."—David Hackett Fischer, Brandeis University

"This book provides a model for what should be a major project of the next decade; a synthesis of the economic history of the early modern Atlantic world...Egnal has added intelligent legends that relate them to his account."—The Journal of American History

"New World Economies is a valuable addition to the body of literature about economic development in eighteenth-century North America, and a much-needed comparative study of the British and French colonies. The book is superbly written and contains a valuable array of charts, tables, and new time series on prices of specific exports and imports. It will be the starting point for any future research on the economic development of the British and French colonies in the eighteenth century."—Thomas Weiss, University of Kansas

From the Publisher