In the first reading, Stanley Engerman and Kenneth Sokoloff attempt to explain what factors contributed to the different levels of economic development between the North American colonies and the Latin American colonies. They hypothesize that the United States and Canada were able to sustain economic growth due to factor endowments that were superior to those of Central and South America. Endowments such as climate, soil, and density of th

There are numerous other similarities between the two readings that are less significant and perhaps less noticeable. For example, both readings downplay the role of cultural factors in influencing different economic trends. Neither article attributes sustained economic growth to certain cultural factors; rather, cultural variations arose as a result of the economic divergences. The differences between the two readings, however, are quite striking. Certainly it is not difficult to discern that the first reading has a much broader scope than the second. While Engerman and Sokoloff discuss American and Canadian colonies versus Central and South American Colonies, Coclanis discusses only those areas within the United States. Where the first reading takes the United States as a whole, the second breaks it up and looks at its specific regions in more detail. In both articles, the authors are comparing one region that experienced sustained economic growth to another region t!

her on one country, the conclusions reached by each seem to contradict one another. While Engerman and Sokoloff downplay the North-South divide, Coclanis concludes that differences were more abundant than similarities between the two regions. Despite the difference in scope and the resulting confusion, both essays provide excellent in-depth analysis of the economic trends of budding economies in the New World.

A second significant likeness between the two readings lies in the fact that they both focused largely on one aspect - factor endowments - in trying to explain the gaps in economic growth. Both pieces seemed to place more of an emphasis on things such as climate, soil, the density of the native population and/or slaves, and the distribution of landholdings, wealth, and power. Institutions and political policies, the authors say, did not influence these factor endowments; rather, the factor endowments were primarily responsible and were perpetuated by political tendencies. For example, Engerman and Sokoloff state that the colonies that succeeded economically, the so-called category three colonies, had certain characteristics in common. They did not have a huge native population or slave population. They were not entirely specialized in one area of crop production. They had a mainly European labor force with a high

Some common words found in the essay are:
North South, Engerman Sokoloff, Latin American, Colonies Coclanis, America Endowments, Latin America, United Canada, South Coclanis, United Overall, economic growth, , factor endowments, north south, american colonies, distribution wealth, latin american, native population, slave labor, equal distribution wealth, economic trends, climate soil, latin american colonies, sustained economic growth, economic divergence north, colonies latin american,
Approximate Word count = 1566
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)