A large literature has documented an association between economic growth and export diversification. We study this question in France between 1836 and 1938. The period witnessed the onset of modern economic growth and sharp changes in the level of international competition. We use a new long term database on French foreign trade at a high level of disaggregation. At the dawn of the first Globalization, France appears to have specialized along Ricardian lines, exporting a handful of textile products in large quantities. There is a decrease in specialization from 1860 to World War I along the lines of modern studies. Changes in trade costs along with economic growth help explain the evolution of France’s comparative advantage. The decline of export concentration is associated with a chronic deficit in the balance of trade during the Belle Epoque and the major part of the interwar period particularly after 1927.

中文翻译：

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多元化阶段：法国，1836年至1938年

大量文献记载了经济增长与出口多样化之间的联系。我们在1836年至1938年之间的法国研究了这个问题。这一时期见证了现代经济增长的开始和国际竞争水平的急剧变化。我们使用高度分类的新的法国外贸长期数据库。在第一次全球化的曙光中，法国似乎沿里卡第生产线发展了专门技术，大量出口了纺织品。从1860年到第一次世界大战，专业化程度正在沿着现代研究的方向下降。贸易成本的变化以及经济增长有助于解释法国比较优势的演变。