Richard W. Unger holds a doctorate in economic history from Yale University. He is a Professor of History at the University of British Columbia and has published articles and books on the history of ship design and shipping in premodern Europe as well as on beer production and cartography in the Renaissance.

• List of Figures, Tables and IllustrationsPrefaceList of AbbreviationsTHE PROBLEM AND THE PROPOSITION1. Shipping, Productivity and Economic Growth, Jan Lucassen and Richard W. UngerPRODUCTIVITY TRENDS IN VARIOUS SHIPPING REGIMES2. Productivity Changes in Shipping in the Dutch Republic: the Evidence from Freight Rates, 1550-1800, Milja van Tielhof and Jan Luiten van Zanden3. The Strange Tale of the Decline of Spanish Shipping, Regina Grafe4. Productivity in English Atlantic Shipping in the Seventeenth Century: Evidence from the Navigation Acts, Nuala Zahedieh 5. Institutions and the Environment: Shipping Movements in the North Sea/Baltic Zone, 1650-1800, David Ormrod6. Productivity Change in Eighteenth Century Finnish Shipping, Jari Ojala7. The Macau - Nagasaki Route (1570-1640): Portuguese Ships and their Cargoes, Rui Loureiro8. Why Shipping “Declined” in China from the Middle Ages to the Nineteenth Century, Kent G. Deng9. Operational Efficiencies and the Decline of the Chinese Junk Trade in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries: The Connection, Paul A. Van DykeSOURCES OF PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH10. Ship Design and Energy Use, 1350-1875, Richard W. Unger11. Work on the Docks: Sailors’ Labour Productivity and the Organization of Loading and Unloading, Jan Lucassen12. Total Factor Productivity for the Royal Navy from Victory at Texel (1653) to Triumph at Trafalgar (1805), Patrick O'Brien and Xavier Duran13. Sailors, National and International Labour Markets and National Identity, 1600-1850, Jelle van Lottum, Jan Lucassen and Lex Heerma van Voss14. Characterization of Technological Change in the Shipping Industry, 1350-1800, Xavier Duran15. Seaports as Centres of Economic Growth: the Portuguese Case, 1500-1800, Amélia PolóniaBibliographyNotes on ContributorsIndex

Richard W. Unger holds a doctorate in economic history from Yale University. He is a Professor of History at the University of British Columbia and has published articles and books on the history of ship design and shipping in premodern Europe as well as on beer production and cartography in the Renaissance.

• List of Figures, Tables and IllustrationsPrefaceList of AbbreviationsTHE PROBLEM AND THE PROPOSITION1. Shipping, Productivity and Economic Growth, Jan Lucassen and Richard W. UngerPRODUCTIVITY TRENDS IN VARIOUS SHIPPING REGIMES2. Productivity Changes in Shipping in the Dutch Republic: the Evidence from Freight Rates, 1550-1800, Milja van Tielhof and Jan Luiten van Zanden3. The Strange Tale of the Decline of Spanish Shipping, Regina Grafe4. Productivity in English Atlantic Shipping in the Seventeenth Century: Evidence from the Navigation Acts, Nuala Zahedieh 5. Institutions and the Environment: Shipping Movements in the North Sea/Baltic Zone, 1650-1800, David Ormrod6. Productivity Change in Eighteenth Century Finnish Shipping, Jari Ojala7. The Macau - Nagasaki Route (1570-1640): Portuguese Ships and their Cargoes, Rui Loureiro8. Why Shipping “Declined” in China from the Middle Ages to the Nineteenth Century, Kent G. Deng9. Operational Efficiencies and the Decline of the Chinese Junk Trade in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries: The Connection, Paul A. Van DykeSOURCES OF PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH10. Ship Design and Energy Use, 1350-1875, Richard W. Unger11. Work on the Docks: Sailors’ Labour Productivity and the Organization of Loading and Unloading, Jan Lucassen12. Total Factor Productivity for the Royal Navy from Victory at Texel (1653) to Triumph at Trafalgar (1805), Patrick O'Brien and Xavier Duran13. Sailors, National and International Labour Markets and National Identity, 1600-1850, Jelle van Lottum, Jan Lucassen and Lex Heerma van Voss14. Characterization of Technological Change in the Shipping Industry, 1350-1800, Xavier Duran15. Seaports as Centres of Economic Growth: the Portuguese Case, 1500-1800, Amélia PolóniaBibliographyNotes on ContributorsIndex