| Summary: | <p>This dissertation examines the economic growth process of the Yangzi Delta, one of China’s most developed sub-regions, from 1393 to 1953. For the first time in the literature, an annual frequency GDP series based on an output-based approach is constructed. The dissertation is split into two sections: measuring economic growth and analysing economic growth. As part of measuring economic growth, I discuss local population and land, agriculture, and industry and services in Chapters Two, Three, and Four, respectively. Chapter Five in the section on analysing economic growth briefly reviews the process of local economic growth over several centuries using constructed GDP data. The Great Divergence Debate is then discussed in Chapter Six, which places the Yangzi Delta’s economic growth in an international comparative framework.</p>
<p>From the perspective of Chinese economic growth history, the nine Taihu Lake-centered prefectures in this study had a GDP per capita well above the China average for a long time. However, prior to the mid-nineteenth century, the local economy appeared to be stuck in what Mark Elvin refers to as the “high-level equilibrium trap”. It dis- played a Malthusian-style pattern of per capita GDP growth, but numerous technological or managerial innovations allowed per capita GDP to maintain at a high level. In terms of global growth history, the Yangzi Delta maintained the same level of income per capita as the most developed European economies since the late 14th century (a series consisting of the highest GDP per capita in Italy, the Netherlands, and Britain). This neck-and-neck growth race came to an end at the end of the 17th century. Since then, the leading European economies surpassed the Yangzi Delta in terms of GDP per capita, and the gap widened irreversibly. In short, the Great Divergence began at the end of the 17th century.</p>
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