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Economic Conditions in Early Modern Bengal: A Contribution to the Divergence Debate

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2010

Tirthankar Roy
Tirthankar Roy*
Affiliation:
Reader, Economic History Department, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, United Kingdom. E-mail: [email protected].
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Abstract

This article contributes to the debate on relative levels of living in the early modern world by estimating the income and probable range of income growth in Bengal before European colonization. The exercise yields two conclusions, (a) average income in Bengal was significantly smaller than that in contemporary Western Europe, and (b) there is insufficient basis to infer either growth or decline in average income in the eighteenth century.

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ARTICLES
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 70 , Issue 1 , March 2010 , pp. 179 - 194
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 2010

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