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Success through failure? Four Centuries of Searching for Danish Coal

Ranestad, Kristin LU and Sharp, Paul (2020) In European Historical Economics Society
Abstract
Natural resources, especially energy resources, are often considered vital to the process of economic development, with the availability of coal considered central for the nineteenth century. Clearly, however, although coal might have spurred economic development, development might also have spurred the discovery and use of coal. To shed light on this, we suggest that the case of resource poor Denmark, which spent centuries looking for coal, is illuminating. Specifically, we emphasize that the process of looking for coal and the creation of a natural resource industry in itself is important beyond the obvious dichotomy of haves and have-nots. We seek to understand this process and find that prices proved an important stimulus to coal... (More)
Natural resources, especially energy resources, are often considered vital to the process of economic development, with the availability of coal considered central for the nineteenth century. Clearly, however, although coal might have spurred economic development, development might also have spurred the discovery and use of coal. To shed light on this, we suggest that the case of resource poor Denmark, which spent centuries looking for coal, is illuminating. Specifically, we emphasize that the process of looking for coal and the creation of a natural resource industry in itself is important beyond the obvious dichotomy of haves and have-nots. We seek to understand this process and find that prices proved an important stimulus to coal surveys. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
keywords
coal, Denmark, natural resources, mining
in
European Historical Economics Society
issue
183
pages
27 pages
publisher
European Historical Economics Society
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
121d589a-6aed-43d4-bd65-5e77fdc56939
alternative location
http://www.ehes.org/EHES_183.pdf
date added to LUP
2020-08-24 17:24:38
date last changed
2020-08-26 11:13:46
@misc{121d589a-6aed-43d4-bd65-5e77fdc56939,
  abstract     = {{Natural resources, especially energy resources, are often considered vital to the process of economic development, with the availability of coal considered central for the nineteenth century. Clearly, however, although coal might have spurred economic development, development might also have spurred the discovery and use of coal. To shed light on this, we suggest that the case of resource poor Denmark, which spent centuries looking for coal, is illuminating. Specifically, we emphasize that the process of looking for coal and the creation of a natural resource industry in itself is important beyond the obvious dichotomy of haves and have-nots. We seek to understand this process and find that prices proved an important stimulus to coal surveys.}},
  author       = {{Ranestad, Kristin and Sharp, Paul}},
  keywords     = {{coal; Denmark; natural resources; mining}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  number       = {{183}},
  publisher    = {{European Historical Economics Society}},
  series       = {{European Historical Economics Society}},
  title        = {{Success through failure? Four Centuries of Searching for Danish Coal}},
  url          = {{http://www.ehes.org/EHES_183.pdf}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}