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Medieval Origins: A Review Essay on Campbell's The Great Transition

  • Eric Chaney
Journal of Economic Literature
vol. 56, no. 2, June 2018
(pp. 643-56)
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Abstract

Bruce M. S. Campbell's The Great Transition: Climate, Disease and Society in the Late-Medieval World is a significant contribution to the growing literature that traces the roots of Europe's economic rise to the climatic and population shocks of the late medieval period. This review essay discusses the empirical, historical, and theoretical support for Campbell's view while highlighting that it struggles to explain why these positive effects were limited to Europe. It then hypothesizes that Europe's differential response to this shock reflected prior institutional advantages and provides some preliminary empirical evidence in support of this hypothesis. The essay concludes by examining Campbell's claim that these shocks contributed to Atlantic Europe's rise prior to the colonial period.

Citation

Chaney, Eric. 2018. "Medieval Origins: A Review Essay on Campbell's The Great Transition." Journal of Economic Literature, 56 (2): 643-56. DOI: 10.1257/jel.20161417

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • I15 Health and Economic Development
  • J11 Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts
  • J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
  • N13 Economic History: Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations: Europe: Pre-1913
  • N33 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: Europe: Pre-1913
  • Q54 Climate; Natural Disasters and Their Management; Global Warming