How the World Became Rich: The Historical Origins of Economic Growth

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I won’t stop prating on about how skeptical I am about schooling-based stories of 19th-century growth—most people weren’t doing jobs that required more than rudimentary literacy and numeracy. Most of the chapter instead focuses on the subsequent impact on the colonized, from the unambiguously ghastly— Nunn on the African slave trades, Dell on the mita , Lowes and Montero on the Congo—to the probably-beneficial— railroads , Dell and Olken on the cultivation system, and missionaries.

Radical ideas, be they religious or secular, are much more appealing when there is little hope for a better future”. This work “invite[s] … readers on this journey by working through the history of why Britain was the source of modern economic growth, why other places lagged behind, and how modern economic growth spread around the world”. Additionally, the book’s recognition of social and environmental implications provides a more comprehensive analysis of economic growth. In extending the examination of wealth, the authors could approach new forms of innovation and cooperation between firms. The authors cite Henriques and Palma ( 2020 ) to the effect that only after the Civil Wars did English institutions diverge from those of Spain and Portugal; but this result is incompatible with the “Atlantic traders” argument, which cites initially bad Spanish institutions for mishandling American resources.The book’s strengths lie in its extensive coverage, integration of multiple perspectives, clarity of explanations, and effective use of real-world examples. But as measured by proxies such as real wages, an English peasant in 1450 was in all likelihood better off than the median Roman. In examining the rule of law, the authors could have also explored the alternative and opposing concepts of rule by law at a deeper level. By doing this, the authors significantly contribute to the literature on economic growth by filling gaps and addressing limitations in the current works.

They discuss recently advanced theories rooted in geography, politics, culture, demography, and colonialism. Economic growth occurs when there is a sustained increase in economic prosperity, which we can measure by the total number of goods and services produced in the economy. Now, the claim that medieval peasants were better off than 21st-century Americans is palpable nonsense. They conclude that there is no killer recipe and that a society’s institutions and culture always play a role.There is little doubt that the colonizers benefited from colonial exploitation and the colonized suffered. A society’s past and its institutions and culture play a key role in shaping how it may – or may not – develop.