Global Economic History

Why are some countries rich and others poor? In 1500, the income differences were small, but they have grown dramatically since Columbus reached America. Since then, the interplay between geography, globalization, technological change, and economic policy has determined the wealth and poverty of nations. The industrial revolution was Britain's path breaking response to the challenge of globalization. Western Europe and North America joined Britain to form a club of rich nations by pursuing four polices-creating a national market by abolishing internal tariffs and investing in transportation, erecting an external tariff to protect their fledgling industries from British competition, banks to stabilize the currency and mobilize domestic savings for investment, and mass education to prepare people for industrial work. Together these countries pioneered new technologies that have made them ever richer. Before the Industrial Revolution, most of the world's manufacturing was done in Asia, but industries from Casablanca to Canton were destroyed by western competition in the nineteenth century, and Asia was transformed into 'underdeveloped countries' specializing in agriculture. The spread of economic development has been slow since modern technology was invented to fit the needs of rich countries and is ill adapted to the economic and geographical conditions of poor countries. A few countries - Japan, Soviet Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, and perhaps China - have, nonetheless, caught up with the West through creative responses to the technological challenge and with Big Push industrialization that has achieved rapid growth through investment coordination. Whether other countries can emulate the success of East Asia is a challenge for the future.

ISBN 0199596654   Pages 192 ISBN13 9780199596652 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 147 Publisher Oxford University Press   Published in Oxford Imprint Oxford University Press   Series title Very Short Introductions Format Paperback   Height (mm) 174 Publication date 15 Sep 2011   Width (mm) 126 DEWEY 330.9   Spine width (mm) 13 DEWEY edition DC22   Academic level General

1. The great divergence; 2. The rise of the west; 3. The industrial revolution; 4. The ascent of the rich; 5. The great empires; 6. The Americas; 7. Africa; 8. The standard model and late industrialization; 9. Big push industrialization; Epilogue

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