New World Economies: The Growth of the Thirteen Colonies and Early Canada
 
 
  New World Economies: The Growth of the Thirteen Colonies and Early Canada by Marc Egnal  
Praise for


NEW WORLD ECONOMIES

The Growth of the Thirteen Colonies and Early Canada

"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 breadth 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

"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 Oxford University Press Catalogue . . .


New World Economies

The Growth of the Thirteen Colonies and Early Canada

MARC EGNAL, York University

New World Economies closely examines the economic development of the Thirteen Colonies and early French Canada, looking at the impact of changing prices, capital flows, and shifts in demand. It is a companion to Egnal's earlier book, Divergent Paths, which emphasizes the influence of culture and institutions on growth. It contains seventeen tables and more than one hundred graphs, many of which are based on original data, presenting these new statistics in a series of appendices.

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

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