The Routledge Economic History of Natural Resources

The use of natural resources is the bedrock of human society. The Routledge Economic History of Natural Resources is a comprehensive survey of the latest research topics, theoretical contributions, empirical methods and approaches within this important field, incorporating issues of contemporary relevance and pointing to areas of possible future research.

This handbook focuses on the role and importance of natural resources in the development of the modern world (c. 1750 – present). It has a global scope and analyses how natural resources have been prospected, extracted, processed, marketed, and consumed, as well as the impact of these processes on the population and the environment. The chapters are organised around a set of pertinent thematic areas that cut across environmental, economic, and institutional contexts including political economy, international governance and societal development. They also span the full natural resource lifecycle and cover renewable and non-renewable commodities in order to analyse the complementarities and conflicts between them, in terms of market processes and environmental transformation.

This volume is an indispensable resource for students and scholars in economic history, business history, environmental history, and related fields.