Reading: Robert Allen (2011): Global Economic History: A Very Short Introduction, chapter 1
Robert Allen (2011): Global Economic History: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford: 0199596654), chapter 1 http://amzn.to/2iloEx6:
A lot goes by in a very small number of pages in this chapter:
- The depth of global poverty in 1500
- The magnitude of economic growth since 1500
- The sequencing of economic growth since 1500
- The divergence of economies since 1500
- "Reversal of fortune"--the not rich so much as densely populated stay poor; (some of the) less densely populated become rich--with cultural distance from Manchester being the key
- Exceptions to this general pattern
- Clues to "why?"
There are two tables and four figures in the chapter. Study them. Memorize them. Internalize them:
- GDP/capital, 1820-today
- What bare-bones subsistence baskets consist of
- Initial prosperity and growth since 1820
- Percentage distribution of world manufacturing, 1750-2006
- Laborer wages as a multiple of subsistence, six cities 1325-1875
- Laborer wages as a multiple of subsistence, London and Beijing 1300-2000
This is the best short précis I have ever seen of "the facts" on global economic growth across time and space since 1500.
Housekeeping:
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