A major theme of this book is that, contrary to what many experts believe, being endowed with a plenitude of natural resources is not a curse: rather it provides a potential advantage, if capitalized by the well-endowed economy. Much depends on the institutions that help frame the decision-making process that affects the process of growth and development. Canada is an example of a successful export-oriented economy. And, its export-orientation has been a focal point of discussion and debate, going way back to discussions of the early fur trade, the fishing industry, wheat farming, and mining and oil and gas exploration. Unlike other economies well-endowed with natural resources, Canada does not appear to be at all cursed, but rather blessed with natural resource abundance. This book, which ranges from the late seventeenth to the early twentieth century, provides insights from Canadian economic history on how such abundance can be a handmaiden of successful growth and development. From this perspective, the natural resource curse appears to be more of a ‘man-made’ phenomenon than anything else. This book also investigates aspects of gender inequality in Canada as well as the evolution of hours worked as it intersects with worker preferences and ‘market forces’. The narratives in this book are contextualised by the construction of new or significantly revised data sets, which speaks to the importance of data construction to robust economic analysis and economic history.
Author(s): Morris Altman
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 471
City: Cham
Acknowledgments
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
1 Introduction: Quantitative Economics in a Canadian Context
1 Introduction: What’s the Point?
2 Some Context
3 About This Book
4 Conclusion
Appendix: Book Chapters’ Sources
Notes
References
Part I A Staple Modeling Perspective of Successful Economic Growth
2 Growth Theory and Economic History: A Staple Perspective
1 Introduction
2 The Legacy of Harold Innis
3 The Staple Theory Refined
4 Isolating the Problematic
4.1 The Neoclassical Context
4.2 The Chambers and Gordon Challenge
5 The Staple Theory and Intensive Growth
6 A Statistical Interlude
7 Conclusions
Notes
References
Part II Economic Growth and Development in Early Canada
3 Economic Growth and Development in Early Canada
1 Introduction
2 The Basis of the Real Gross Domestic Product Estimates
3 Real Gross Domestic Product Estimates and Their Analytical Implications
4 Sectoral Growth Rates
5 Surplus Production in Early Canada
6 Conclusion
Appendix: The Construction of RGDP Estimates
Notes
References
4 The Economic Impact of the Seigniorial Tenure in Early Canada
1 Introduction
2 The Seigniorial Régime
3 Seigniorial Charges in New France: 1688–1793
4 A Tabulation and Analysis of the Economic Burden of the Seigniorial Régime
5 An Analysis of the Data
6 The Allocation of Resources and Economic Development
7 Conclusion
Notes
References
Part III Explaining Quebec’s Relative Laggard Economic Development
5 The State of Quebec Agriculture in the Mid-Nineteenth Century: Comparing French Canadian and Non-French Farmers
1 Introduction
2 Language, Land Tenure, and the State of Quebec Agriculture
3 Organizing and Adjusting the Census Material
4 Partial Factor Productivity and Land Use
5 Net Agricultural Output Per Farm
6 Decomposing Net Output
7 The Ranking of Counties by Net Output, Language and System of Land Tenure
8 Conclusion
Notes
References
6 Economic Development with High Wages: An Historical Perspective
1 Introduction
2 The High-Wage/Slow-Growth Hypothesis
3 The Evidence
4 Conclusion
Appendix
Notes
References
7 Labour Productivity in Nineteenth Century Quebec and Ontario: Explaining Ontario’s Advantage
1 Introduction
2 The Quandary Over Quebec’s Comparative Economic Development
3 X Inefficiency, Labour Productivity, Labour Income and Production Costs
4 Some Possible Causes of Quebec’s Lag in Productivity
5 Education and Labour Productivity Differentials
6 Conclusion: ‘Cheap’ Labour and Substandard Labour Productivity
Appendix
Notes
References
8 Resources Endowments and Economic Development: Why Location and the Bounties of Nature Can’t Explain Quebec’s Laggard Economic Performance in the Pre-World War One Period
1 Introduction
2 A Modeling Narrative
3 The Faucher-Lamontagne Hypothesis
4 Testing the Faucher-Lamontagne Hypothesis
5 Conclusion
Notes
References
9 Railways as an Engine of Economic Growth? Who Benefited from the Canadian Railway Boom?
1 Introduction
2 Estimates on Canada’s Railway Boom: A Preliminary Analysis
3 Was Quebec Discriminated Against Duriong Canada’s Railway Boom: Assessing the Evidence
4 Indirect Benefits from Railway Construction
5 Conclusion
Appendix
References
Part IV Staples Were Actually Importance to Canada’s Early Post Confederation Economic Development
10 A Revision of Canadian Economic Growth: 1870–1910 (A Challenge to the Gradualist Interpretation)
1 Introduction
2 A Revision of Constant Manufacturing Output and Growth Estimates
3 The Changing Structure of Canadian Manufacturing
4 Conclusion
Appendix
Notes
References
11 New Historical Canadian Output Estimates: Implications for an Understanding of Canadian Economic Development, 1870–1926
1 Introduction
2 The Revised Real GNP Estimates
3 The Revised Real GPN and Economic Growth
4 Conclusion
Notes
References
12 How Long Did Canadian Workers Actually Work? The Struggle for a Shorter Work Week and Workers’ Standards of Living Before the Great Depression
1 Introduction
2 The Derivation of New Hours Worked Estimates
3 The Results
4 Hours Worked and Real Weekly Income
5 Hours Worked and Real Income in Canada and the US
6 Conclusion
Notes
References
13 Gender Pay Inequality and Occupational Change in Canada, in the Early Twentieth Century (with Louise Lamontagne)
1 Introduction
2 The Construction of Estimates
3 Pay Inequality in the Manufacturing Sector
4 The Distribution of the Gainfully Employed
5 Pay Inequality for All Industrial Sectors, 1930
6 Pay Inequality for All Occupations, 1900–1930
7 Occupational Change Over Time
8 The Clericalization of Female Employment
9 Conclusion
Notes
References
14 On the Natural Intelligence of Women: How the Feminization of Clerical Work Contributed to Gender Pay Equality in Early Twentieth Century Canada (With Louise Lamontagne)
1 Introduction
2 Clerical Work in Context
3 What Is Clerical Work
4 Clerical Work and Income
5 Clerical Work and Pay Inequality
6 Conclusion
Notes
References
Index
