Resources, techniques, and strategies south of the Sahara: revising the factor endowments perspective on African economic development, 1500-2000

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Periodical article

Title:	Resources, techniques, and strategies south of the Sahara: revising the factor endowments perspective on African economic development, 1500-2000
Author:	Austin, Gareth
Year:	2008
Periodical:	The Economic History Review (ISSN 1468-0289)
Volume:	61
Issue:	3
Pages:	587-624
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Subsaharan Africa
Subjects:	economic history economic development
External link:	https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-0289.2007.00409.x/full
Abstract:	This article seeks to revise and re-apply the factor endowments perspective on African history. The propositions that sub-Saharan Africa was characterized historically by land abundance and labour scarcity, and that the natural environment posed severe constraints on the exploitation of the land surplus, are broadly upheld. Important alterations are suggested, however, centred on the seasonality of labour supply, Ruf's concept of 'forest rent', and, for precolonial economies, the role of fixed capital.