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Fall 2018

ISSN 0890-913X

Volume 33, Number 3

Categories: Fall 2018 | Banking | Economic history

Was Economic Growth Likely in Lower Canada?

Vincent Geloso, Texax Tech University

Mathieu Bédard, Montreal Economic Institute

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TheJournalofPrivateEnterprise33(3),2018,1–23WasEconomicGrowthLikelyinLowerCanada?VincentGelosoTexasTechUniversityMathieuBédardMontrealEconomicInstitute______________________________________________________AbstractGenerally,thehistoricalliteraturepresentstheperiodfrom1817to1851inLowerCanada(themodern-dayprovinceofQuebec)asoneofnegativeeconomicgrowth.Inthispaper,wequestionthisnarrativebypointingtotheriseoffreebankingduringtheperiod,whichsupportsacaseforincreasesinpercapitaincome.Usingtheequationofexchange,weproposethatgiventheincreaseinthestockofmoneyandthereductioninthegeneralpricelevel,thecaseforafallinpercapitaincomeistenuous.Wepresentcomplementaryevidencesuggestingthatgrowthwaspositive.______________________________________________________JELCodes:E31,N11,N21Keywords:economicgrowth,freebanking,pricelevel,privatemoneyI.IntroductionOneofthemostcontentiousclaimsinCanadianeconomichistoryconcernstheexistenceofan“agriculturalcrisis”intheearlynineteenthcentury.ThetermisusedwithreferencetoaprotractedperiodofpooreconomicperformanceinthepredominantlyruraleconomyofBritain’scolonyinLowerCanada(modern-dayQuebec).Theliteratureonthetopichasdivideditselfintotwobroadcamps:thetraditionalistsandtherevisionists.Thetraditionalistsemphasizethatculturalconservatismretardedinnovationinfarmingpractices.This,combinedwithpopulationgrowth,pooraccesstoforeignmarkets,andthedepredationsofthehessianfly,ledtoaprolongedcrisisintheagriculturalsectorwhich,giventhesector’simportanceintheeconomy,meantadeclineinlivingstandards.Therevisionists,incontrast,pointtopositiveindicatorsofgrowthandareorganizationoftheeconomyawayfromtheproductionofwheatandtowardnewproducts.Ingeneral,therevisionistspointtomodestgrowthinlivingstandards.

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Title	Was Economic Growth Likely in Lower Canada?
Authors/Creators:	Vincent Geloso, Texax Tech University Mathieu Bédard, Montreal Economic Institute
Year:	2018
Volume:	33
Number:	3
Pages:	1 - 23
Publisher:	The Association of Private Enterprise Education
ISSN:	0890-913X
Document Type:	Articles
Keywords:	economic growth, free banking, price level, private money

Citation:
Geloso, Vincent; Bédard, Mathieu / 2018. "Was Economic Growth Likely in Lower Canada?." The Journal of Private Enterprise, 33(3): 1-23.