13 Facts About Paul Bairoch

Paul Bairoch was a Swiss economic historian of Belgian descent who specialized in urban history and historical demography.

Paul Bairoch published or co-authored more than two dozen books and 120 scholarly articles.

Paul Bairoch argued that tariffs and growth were positively correlated in the 19th century.

Paul Bairoch obtained his doctorate in 1963 at the Free University of Brussels where he worked from 1965 to 1995.

Paul Bairoch was economic adviser to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade at Geneva from 1967 to 1969, professor at the Sir George Williams University in Montreal from 1969 to 1971 and on recommendation of Fernand Braudel became director of studies at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes from 1971 to 1972.

Paul Bairoch was visiting professor at Harvard and at the College de France and Doctor honoris causa at the ETH Zurich.

From 1985, Paul Bairoch directed a number of research projects on the world economy at a Centre for International Economic History in Geneva.

Paul Bairoch argued that such beliefs are based on insufficient knowledge and misguided interpretations of the economic history of the United States, Europe and the Third World.

Paul Bairoch is particularly known for his detailed empirical research on economic problems of Third World countries, on the Industrial Revolution and its aftermath and on urban history.

Paul Bairoch's historical estimates of Gross Product measures are still being referred to in the literature, although some are challenged by other economic historians such as Angus Maddison.

Paul Bairoch argues that free trade contributed to deindustrialization in the Ottoman Empire.

Paul Bairoch referred here to colonialism and to the exploitation of the third world in the 19th and early 20th century.

Paul Bairoch argued that this exploitation was not indispensable for industrialisation.