According to the authors, the economic consequences of the Black Death influenced social and cultural institutions. These institutions were able to change the accepted norms about how people should behave. The lack of workers in Western Europe led to slavery becoming more common.
People were more likely to get married later, and therefore had fewer children. The Church’s political power was diminished and stronger states were created.
All of these developments are widely believed to have played a part in Europe’s economic growth, particularly Northwest Europe.
Taylor observes that one of the most mysterious aspects of the history of global economics is the large difference between the economies in Europe and Asia. They grew much faster than those of Asia, the Middle East and Asia.
This divergence started shortly after the Black Death.
“Of course, there were many factors at work. But ironically, one of the contributors appears to have been the disruptions in economic, social and political patterns caused by the Black Death,” he concludes.
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Thanks to medical science, our epidemic has affected a smaller number of people. And, believe it or not, advances in economic understanding mean that governments have known what to do to limit the economic fallout — even if we don’t anticipate inflation.
The government has always been aware that it is not a good idea to save taxpayers money by funding pharmaceutical companies in order to create effective vaccines and drugs within record time.
A consequence of our better understanding of what we should do is that this pandemic won’t alter the course global economic history in the same way as the Black Death.
It is too early to predict the wider economic impact. Change China’s economic future is one possibility. You can go back 50 years and find out who did my work.
It is clear, even at an early stage of the pandemic, that it has influenced our behavior. Invention was born out of necessity. It was more like it forced us forward to reap the benefits of digital revolution we’d been avoiding.
It was never possible to work from home and save so much time. And these days, many of us know the convenience of online shopping — and the downside to returning clothes that don’t fit.
Telehealth is now available to all. Doctors used to be reluctant to take advantage of the many benefits offered by telehealth. Now prescriptions can be done on your smartphone. I don’t think the number business trips between Sydney-Melbourne will rise.
Ross Gittens, the economics editor.
Originally published at Brisbane News Station
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