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Of Mice and Merchants: Connectedness and the Location of Economic Activity in the Iron Age

Jan David Bakker¹; Stephan Maurer²; Jörn-Steffen Pischke³; Ferdinand Rauch⁴

¹ University College London and CEP · ² University of Konstanz and CEP · ³ LSE and CEP · ⁴ University of Oxford and CEP

We study the causal relationship between geographic connectedness and development using one of the earliest massive trade expansions: the first systematic crossing of open seas in the Mediterranean during the time of the Phoenicians. We construct a geography-based measure of connectedness along the shores of the sea. We relate connectedness to economic activity, which we measure using the presence of archaeological sites. We find an association between better-connected locations and archaeological sites during the Iron Age, at a time when sailors began to cross open water routinely on a large scale. We corroborate these findings at the world level.

DOI

10.1162/rest_a_00902

Pages

1-14

Language

en

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BibTeX

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