Conclusion

What have we learnt from the foregoing analysis? First, Mediterranean countries that reacted to the globalization of commodity markets with tariff hikes experienced slower real wage convergence on the New World. Those that opened to trade, by will or by force, experienced terms of trade booms and faster real wage convergence. Second, domestic overpopulation kept unskilled wages low and wage gaps wide. This drove Mediterranean emigration, raising domestic unskilled wages and in turn reducing domestic income inequality. Lastly, while emigration from the northern Mediterranean to the New World was high, it was not high enough to facilitate the region’s integration with the global labor market. Emigration from the eastern Mediterranean and the Maghreb was high enough to allow for integration but the countries themselves comprised too small a part of the Mediterranean for the region to globally integrate in aggregate. Underlying these movements were declining transport costs and New World and northwestern European industrialization.