Measuring the Great Divergence: A study of global standards of living, 1500-1950

该项目将有助于更好地了解西欧与世界其他地区大分化的起源和发展。最近的学术研究表明，与彭慕兰（2001）的著名论点相反，到17世纪，西欧已经比世界其他地区富裕。但是比较研究很少，并且几乎完全依赖于最早的17世纪的英语，法语和荷兰语（通常只有18和19世纪）。因此，我们仍然不知道大分流是什么时候开始的，我们对17世纪之前世界上非欧洲地区的发展也知之甚少。葡萄牙的全球帝国基本上没有出现在这场辩论中，但从16世纪开始，它包括了非洲、印度、美洲和亚洲的几个地点。在帝国中心和前殖民地的葡萄牙殖民档案中保存着16世纪以来的详细价格和工资数据，这些数据可以用来扩大研究的时间和地理范围。从15世纪开始，葡萄牙在海外的主要努力确保了它成为欧洲最古老、持续时间最长的现代帝国。我们将使用由行政，军事和商业机构创建的葡语定量资源，用于数百年来五个主要的前帝国遗址，从c.1500到1950：安哥拉的罗安达，莫桑比克岛的城市定居点，印度的果阿，中国的澳门和巴西的里约热内卢。我们将把收支簿、付款簿、人口普查和统计年鉴纳入16世纪初以来的真实工资和福利篮子。这些地点提供的地理覆盖范围可以提供更多关于葡萄牙人居住的世界不同地区的土著和欧洲定居者生活水平的细节，其地理范围更广，而且比目前从英语、法语或荷兰语来源获得的数据早一个多世纪。对于每个案例研究地点，我们将收集不同种类工人（熟练工人和非熟练工人、自由工人和受奴役工人、欧洲工人、本土工人和混血人）的年度工资数据，以及按时间和地理顺序生产特定福利篮子的各种主要商品的价格。这些篮子将反映正在进行的事件，例如在被称为哥伦比亚交换的过程中引入新商品。例如，自17世纪以来，玉米和木薯首次从殖民地巴西进口，逐渐改变了生产和消费模式，成为安哥拉的重要食物。我们将积累一个包含数千个观察结果的数据集，得出实际工资和价格指数，从而确定福利比率；也就是说，这些地方的工人可以购买的主食和其他必需品的质量和数量。这将为五个世纪以来每个地区不同群体的生活水平提供明确的证据。该项目将帮助首席研究员发展他的领导技能，获得拨款管理经验，并实现研究的独立性。这也将极大地促进PDRA的职业前景，他们将被雇用进行研究，并与PI就数据集和出版物进行合作。为了确保学术界的最大利益，数据集将提供给其他研究人员，为理解欧洲优势的原因开辟进一步的途径。我们的发现将通过提供大量关于奴隶制经济遗产的新信息，从而引起中央政府机构和市政机构在公共历史、记忆和遗产领域的兴趣，从而加深我们对“大分歧”起源的理解。在ESRC社会科学节举办的一个临时展览和活动也将有助于向更广泛的公众传播这些发现。

This project will provide a better understanding of the origins and development of the Great Divergence between Western Europe and other parts of the world. Recent scholarship has shown that contrary to Pomeranz's (2001) famous argument, Western Europe was already richer than other parts of the world by the 17th century. But comparative studies are rare, and rely almost exclusively on English, French, and Dutch sources from the 17thcentury at the earliest (and typically, only the 18thand 19thcenturies). Hence, we still do not know when did the Great Divergence began, and we also know little about developments of non-European parts of the world prior to the 17thcentury. Portugal's global empire has been mostly absent from this debate, but from the 16th century it included several sites in Africa, India, the Americas, and Asia. Detailed price and wage data from the 16th century onwards survives in the Portuguese colonial archives in both the imperial centre and former colonies, and these can be used to expand the chronological and geographical scope of research.The primacy of Portuguese overseas endeavours from the 15thcentury ensured that it became Europe's oldest and longest lasting modern empire. We will use Lusophone quantitative sources created by administrative, military, and commercial institutions for five key former imperial sites over hundreds of years, from c.1500 to 1950: Luanda in Angola, the urban settlement of Mozambique Island, Goa in India, Macao in China, and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. We will privilege books of receipt and expense, payment rolls, census, and statistical yearbooks to assemble real wages and welfare baskets from the early 16thcentury onwards. The geographical coverage provided by these locations can provide much more detail on living standards for both native and European settlers in different parts of the world in which were the Portuguese were present, for a broader geographical range and beginning more than a century before currently available data derived from English, French or Dutch sources. For each case study site, we will collect yearly wage data for different kinds of workers (skilled and unskilled, free and enslaved, European, native and mixed race), and also the prices of a variety of staple goods to produce chronologically and geographically specific welfare baskets. These baskets will reflect ongoing events, such as the introduction of new goods in the process known as Columbian Exchange. For example, maize became an important food in Angola since the 17thcentury, when together with cassava was first imported from colonial Brazil, progressively transforming patterns of production and consumption. Amassing a dataset with many thousands of observations, we will produce indexes of real wages and prices which will allow us to determine welfare ratios; that is, the quality and quantity of staple foods and other essential items that workers in these locations could purchase. This will provide clear evidence of living standards for different groups in each location over five centuries.The project will help the PI develop his leadership skills, gain grant management experience and achieve research independence. It will also greatly the career prospects of the PDRA who will be hired to conduct research and work with the PI on datasets and publications. To ensure maximum benefit to the scholarly community, datasets will be made available for other researchers, opening further avenues for understanding the causes of the ascendency of Europe. Our findings will generate interest in both central government agencies and municipal institutions in the fields of public history, memory, and legacy by providing a vast amount of new information on the economic legacy of slavery and, consequently, our understanding of the origins of the 'Great Divergence'. A temporary exhibition and an event at the ESRC Festival of Social Science will also help to disseminate these findings to a wider public.