From Convergece to Divergence: Portuguese Demography and Economic Growth, 1500-1850

Without coal in the age of steam and dams in the age of electricity: an explanation for the failure of Portugal to industrialize before the Second World War

“…The present work examines the role of energy resources for Portuguese economic underperformance before the Second World War, something which has often been neglected in previous accounts, which have focused for example on the role of trade policies, institutions, and a lack of physical and human capital (see for example Costa et al 2011;Lains 2002Lains , 2003Miranda 1991;Palma and Reis 2016;Reis , 1993. By 1850, Portuguese GDP per capita was already just forty percent that in the UK, between sixty and seventy percent of that in France, Italy and Germany, and almost ninety percent of that in Spain and Sweden, although it was slightly higher than the Finnish level.…”

Reconstruction of regional and national population using intermittent census-type data: The case of Portugal, 1527–1864

“…Finally, it makes it possible, for the first time, to recognize and account for variations in the regional long term patterns of Portugal's demography. This will enable us, for example, to complement the analysis in Palma and Reis (2016), where we focused on the broader macroeconomic facts of Portugal's history, and used an earlier version of micro data produced here as an input. 3 During nearly all of the period considered, Portugal was divided into six provinces for administrative, judicial and political reasons and we will follow here this tradition too.…”

L’economia della conoscenza: innovazione, produttività e crescita economica nei secoli XIII-XVIII / The knowledge economy: innovation, productivity and economic growth, 13th to 18th century

“…The decline of the Portuguese economy has been evident since 1780, despite the greater integration of the primary sector in international trade and the importance of the Empire; however, it was strongly marked by two decisive moments: the earthquake of 1755 (which destroyed the fixed capital in many regions) and the French invasions (in a period where a recession was already visible due to the decline of gold extraction) (Costa, Lains and Miranda 2016, 164-65). Sectors such as the agricultural sector, despite the great diversification of crops, a result of market incentives that positively affected the standard of living until at least 1760 (Palma and Reis 2016), still showed a very low capacity to innovate (Costa, Lains and Miranda 2016, 164-85). At the same time, the industrial sector benefited from pressure from national authorities, which allowed, «[…] promoting new forms of organizing labor with good results in exports manufactures to colonial markets.» (Costa, Lains e Miranda 2016, 164-85).…”