The Great Divergence Reconsidered
Europe, India, and the Rise to Global Economic Power
$232.83
- Hardcover
244 pages
- Release Date
29 January 2015
Summary
In stark contrast to popular narratives, The Great Divergence Reconsidered shows that Europe’s rise to an undisputed world economic leader was not the effect of the Industrial Revolution, and cannot be explained by coal or colonial exploitation. Using a wealth of new historical evidence stretching from the seventeenth to the twentieth century, Roman Studer shows that this ‘Great Divergence’ must be shifted back to the seventeenth century, if not earlier. Europe was characterized by a more pow…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781107020542 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 1107020549 |
| Author: | Roman Studer |
| Publisher: | Cambridge University Press |
| Imprint: | Cambridge University Press |
| Format: | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages: | 244 |
| Release Date: | 29 January 2015 |
| Weight: | 520g |
| Dimensions: | 231mm x 155mm x 25mm |
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Critics Review
‘Adam Smith’s central thesis was that efficient markets generate economic growth. This lively book revives the Smithian tradition. Efficient markets create growth, and efficient markets were unique to pre-industrial Europe. This is an important contribution to the debate on why the West rather than the East experienced the Industrial Revolution.’ Gregory Clark, University of California, Davis
‘The timing of the Great Divergence between the economies of the West and East is one of the ‘big’ topics of modern economic history. Building on a theoretical framework that goes back to Adam Smith, Roman Studer combines new data and cutting-edge analysis to show - deftly and convincingly - that long before the Industrial Revolution the integration of commodity markets in the West fostered rates of economic growth and living standards higher than anywhere in the East.’ Cormac Ó Gráda, University College Dublin
‘By foregrounding market integration and the costs of trade, The Great Divergence Reconsidered makes a case for a radical shift in the discourse on the origins of international economic inequality. The sophistication of Roman Studer’s arguments and the quality of his statistical analysis make that case compelling. This is undoubtedly a major work.’ Tirthankar Roy, London School of Economics and Political Science
About The Author
Roman Studer
Roman Studer has worked both in academia and in the private sector, and he is currently the chief operating officer of the UBS International Center of Economics in Society at Universität Zürich. He was a postdoctoral prize research fellow at the University of Oxford and then a lecturer at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He was awarded the Alexander Gerschenkron Prize by the Economic History Association for the best dissertation in international economic history.
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