Engineers and the knowledge gap between Andean and Nordic countries, 1850-1939

In this chapter, we explore how natural resources can be exploitable resources thanks to knowledge improvements. This issue is tackled by looking at the evolution of engineering faculties and graduate engineers from 1850 to 1939 in Andean and Nordic countries, two regions where natural resources were critical at the onset of modern economic growth. We find the consolidation of a knowledge gap between Andean and Nordic countries during the First Globalization that was materialized in: (a) a drastic difference in the total number of locally trained engineers; (b) the role that these engineers played in their respective labour markets. These differences were the result of differences in public support to primary education and migration traditions. Both, in turn, are linked to historical and geographic contingencies.