The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy
404
The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy
404eBook
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Overview
A landmark comparative history of Europe and China that examines why the Industrial Revolution emerged in the West
The Great Divergence sheds light on one of the great questions of history: Why did sustained industrial growth begin in Northwest Europe? Historian Kenneth Pomeranz shows that as recently as 1750, life expectancy, consumption, and product and factor markets were comparable in Europe and East Asia. Moreover, key regions in China and Japan were no worse off ecologically than those in Western Europe, with each region facing corresponding shortages of land-intensive products. Pomeranz’s comparative lens reveals the two critical factors resulting in Europe's nineteenth-century divergence—the fortunate location of coal and access to trade with the New World. As East Asia’s economy stagnated, Europe narrowly escaped the same fate largely due to favorable resource stocks from underground and overseas. This Princeton Classics edition includes a preface from the author and makes a powerful historical work available to new readers.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780691217192 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Princeton University Press |
| Publication date: | 04/13/2021 |
| Series: | Princeton Classics , #117 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 404 |
| File size: | 1 MB |
About the Author
Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ixINTRODUCTION Comparisons, Connections, and Narratives of European Economic Development 3
Variations on the Eurppe-Centered Story: Demography. Ecology, and Accumulation 10
Other Europe-Centered Stories: Markets, Firms, and Institutions 14
Problems with the Europe-Centered Stories 16
Building a More Inclusive Story 17
Comparisons, Connections, and the Structure of the Argument 24
A Note on Geographic Coverage 25
PART ONE: A WORLD OF SURPRISING RESEMBLANCES 29
ONE Europe before Asia? Population, Capital Accumulation, and Technology in Explanations of European Development 31
Agriculture, Transport, and Livestock Capital 32
Living Longer? Living Better? 36
Birthrates 40
Accumulation? 42
What about Technology? 43
TWO Market Economies in Europe and Asia 69
Land Markets and Restrictions on Land Use in China and Western Europe 70
Labor Systems 80
Migration, Markets, and Institutions 82
Markets for Farm Products 86
Rural Industry and Sideline Activities 86
Family Labor in China and Europe: "Involution" and the "Industrious Revolution" 91
Conclusion to Part 1: Multiple Cores and Shared Constraints in the Early Modem World Economy 107
PART TWO: FROM NEW ETHOS TO NEW ECONOMY? CONSUMPTION, INVESTMENT, AND CAPITALISM 109
INTRODUCTION 111
THREE Luxury Consumption and the Rise of Capitalism 114
More and Less Ordinary Luxuries 114
Everyday Luxuries and Popular Consumption in Early Modem Europe and Asia 116
Consumer Durables and the "Objectification of Luxury 127
Exotic Goods and the Velocity of Fashion: Global Conjuncture and the Appearance of Culturally Based EconomicDifference 152
Luxury Demand, Social Systems, and Capitalist Firms 162
Visible Hands: Firm Structure, Sociopolitical Structure and "Capitalism" in Europe and Asia 166
Overseas Extraction and Capital Accumulation: The Williams Thesis Revisited 186
The Importance of the Obvious: Luxury Demand, Capitalism, and New World Colonization 189
Interstate Competition, Violence, and State Systems: How They Didn't Matter and How They Did 194
Conclusion to Part 2: The Significance of Similarities and of Differences 206
PART THREE: BEYOND SMITH AND MALTHUS: FROM ECOLOGICAL CONSTRAINTS TO SUSTAINED INDUSTRIAL GROWTH 209
FIVE Shared Constraints: Ecological Strain in Western Europe and East Asia 211
Deforestation and Soil Depletion in China: Some Comparisons with Europe 225
Trading for Resources with Old World Peripheries: Common Patterns and Limits of Smithian Solutions to Quasi-Malthusian Problems 242
SIX Abolishing the Land Constraint: The Americas as a New Kind of Periphery 264
Another New World, Another Windfall: Precious Metals 269
Some Measurements of Ecological Relief: Britain in the Age of the Industrial Revolution 274
Comparisons and Calculations: What Do the Numbers Mean? 279
Beyond and Besides the Numbers 281
Into an Industrial World 283
Last Comparisons: Labor Intensity, Resources, and Industrial "Growing Up" 285
Appendix A Comparative Estimates of Land Transport Capacity per Person: Germany and North India, circa 1800 301
Appendix B Estimates of Manure Applied to North China and European Farms in the Late Eighteenth Century, and a Comparison of Resulting Nitrogen Fluxes 303
Appendix C Forest Cover and Fuel-Supply Estimates for France, Lingnan, and a Portion of North China, 1700-1850 307
Appendix D Estimates of "Ghost Acreage" Provided by Various Imports to Late Eighteenth- and Early Nineteenth-Century Britain 313
Appendix E Estimates of Earning Power of Rural Textile Workers in the Lower Yangzi Region of China, 1750-1840 316
Appendix F Estimates of Cotton and Silk Production, Lower Yangzi and China as a Whole, 1750 and Later--With Comparisons to United Kingdom, France, and Germany 327
BIBLIOGRAPHY 339
INDEX 373
What People are Saying About This
This is an outstanding book, painstaking and devastating in its attack on received wisdom, supported by a wealth of solid evidence and elegant argument.
— Jack A. Goldstone, University of California, Davis
This is an outstanding book, painstaking and devastating in its attack on received wisdom, supported by a wealth of solid evidence and elegant argument.
Pomeranz uses that European invention—economics—to overturn Eurocentrism, establishing beyond cavil a New Fact in our world. Never again will Europeans imagine they stood alone in the doorway of economic growth. Pomeranz and his colleagues in the new sinology have reintroduced the Central Kingdom and its stunning historical sources, and Pomeranz has written the one essential book.
— Deirdre McClosky, University of Iowa
A truly magisterial effort based on an immense knowledge of the field, a vast amount of reading, and on close and careful analysis, informed by both social science and history.
— Joel Mokyr, Northwestern University
"Pomeranz uses that European invention—economics—to overturn Eurocentrism, establishing beyond cavil a New Fact in our world. Never again will Europeans imagine they stood alone in the doorway of economic growth. Pomeranz and his colleagues in the new sinology have reintroduced the Central Kingdom and its stunning historical sources, and Pomeranz has written the one essential book."—Deirdre McClosky, University of Iowa"Pomeranz uses a mixture of institutional forces and technological/geological luck to explain how an economic and ecological 'tie game' suddenly became a victory for western Europe over China. He combines global imagination with the scientific detail needed to make his points hold firm. The Great Divergence should command widespread respect."—Peter H. Lindert, University of California, Davis"A truly magisterial effort based on an immense knowledge of the field, a vast amount of reading, and on close and careful analysis, informed by both social science and history."—Joel Mokyr, Northwestern University"This is an outstanding book, painstaking and devastating in its attack on received wisdom, supported by a wealth of solid evidence and elegant argument."—Jack A. Goldstone, University of California, Davis
Pomeranz uses a mixture of institutional forces and technological/geological luck to explain how an economic and ecological 'tie game' suddenly became a victory for western Europe over China. He combines global imagination with the scientific detail needed to make his points hold firm. The Great Divergence should command widespread respect.
— Peter H. Lindert, University of California, Davis