e 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 level of human capital. And most importantly, they had a relatively equal distribution of wealth and landholdings. By contrast, category one and two colonies had a large slave or native population that constituted most of the labor force, an unequal distribution of wealth, large scale enterprises, and a great deal of inequality. In Coclanis’ essay, he points to similar factors as a cause of the North’s economic prosperity. Coclanis cites climate, resources, and profit possibilities as reasons. The North, in comparison to the South, was more economically diverse, less specialized in crop production, had fewer slaves and more European workers, and had a more equal distribution of wealth and landholdings. Thus we see another fundamental similarities between the two articles – both attribute superior economic growth to similar factors known as factor endowments.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...
