Global Economic History
We draw lessons from the success stories of economic development in the past for policymakers today
Our research seeks to explain comparative long-run growth performance. A significant part of our work has been to build on and extend existing data to understand the reasons for growth performance over time. Since the beginning of CAGE, we have developed substantial new data and analysis on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Britain between 1270 and 1870. We have also put together and researched regional GDP data across Europe, enabling economists to better understand how modern economies have developed over time.
We use historical analysis to inform debate about economic challenges in the contemporary world. Our research often looks back over longer periods than most policymakers normally take into consideration and have drawn out new lessons for modern governments. We have highlighted lessons from the financial crisis of the 1930s to inform policymakers how they should respond to the 2008 banking crash; uncovered the long term effect of forced migration on educational attainment; and investigated market potential and global growth over the long twentieth century.
Theme leaders
Stephen Broadberry
Stephen is Professor of Economic History at Nuffield College, Oxford.
James Fenske
James is Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick.
Current and future research
Our research programme in Global Economic History uses data across countries to study long run growth patterns. It covers two key areas of focus:
- The evolution of colonial economies using company-level records to shed new light on the economics and consequences of the imperial period.
- A new data digitisation initiative focused on the UK economy from the late 19th century until the start of electronic records in the 1980s.
Research Highlights
- An Economic History of India: Growth, Income and Inequalities from the Mughals to the 21st Century, Bishnupriya Gupta, Cambridge University Press, 2025
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Missing Women in Colonial India, James Fenske, Bishnupriya Gupta, The Economic History Review, 2025
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Conquering Korea for Jesus: Protestant missionaries, local churches, and literacy in Colonial Korea, Sascha O. Becker, Cheongyeon Won, Labour Economics, 2024
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Conflict and Gender Norms, Mark Dincecco, James Fenske, Bishnupriya Gupta, Anil Menon, Social Science Research Network, 2024
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The Size of the Medieval Economy, Stephen Broadberry, Medieval Statistics, 2024
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European business cycles and economic growth, 1300–2000, Stephen Broadberry and Jason Lennard, Explorations in Economic History, 2024
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Catching-Up and Falling Behind: Russian Economic Growth, 1690s–1880s, Stephen Broadberry and Elena Korchmina, The Journal of Economic History, 2024
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Why economic warfare nearly always misses its target, Mark Harrison and Stephen Broadberry, The Economist, 2024
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Historical Self-Governance and Norms of Cooperation, Devesh Rustagi, Econometrica, 2024
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Religion and Growth, Sascha O. Becker, Jared Rubin and Ludger Woessmann, Journal of Economic Literature, 2024
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Persecution and Escape: Professional Networks and High-Skilled Emigration from Nazi Germany, Sascha O. Becker, Volker Lindenthal, Sharun W. Mukand, Fabian Waldinger, American Economic Journal, 2024
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British Economic Growth and Development, Stephen Broadberry, Handbook of Cliometrics, 2024
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The Iberian Economy in Comparative Perspective, 1800–2000, Stephen Broadberry and Rui Pedro Esteves, Cambridge University Press, 2024
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Railways, Development, and Literacy in India, Latika Chaudhary and James Fenske, The Journal of Economic History, 2023
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Secret Leviathan, Secrecy and State Capacity under Soviet Communism, Mark Harrison, 2023
Features
Crafts Lectures
An annual series of lectures in honour of Professor Nick Crafts, original founder and director of the CAGE Research Centre.
What about India? Moghuls, British and the Causes of Poverty
CAGE Research Director, Bishnupriya Gupta discusses her work on colonialism and the economic history of India for the On Humans podcast.