The quantitative development of Germany's international trade during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries

Abstract

The study assembles indirect evidence to establish the patterns of international trade in eighteenth-century Germany. Major results include: (1) International trade of Germany expanded at an annual rate of 1 per cent or slightly less in real terms between the 1730s and the early 1790s. Since GDP grew by about 0.5 per cent p. a. this implies an increase in openness. (2) Imports of colonial goods, most notably sugar and coffee, expanded at slightly less than 2 per cent p. a., which suggests that Germany participated in the development of the Atlantic economy. (3) The period saw import substitution of cottons, and towards the end of the eighteenth century exports of cotton goods partially compensated for sluggish growth of trade in linen, the chief export product. Trade growth seems to have resulted from an increased utilization of seasonally underemployed labour for the production of manufactures for export and contributed to the stabilization of per capita incomes in face of declining marginal labour productivity in agriculture.