The Great Divergence

Description

"Why did sustained industrial growth begin in Northwest Europe, despite surprising similarities between advanced areas of Europe and East Asia?". "Pomeranz argues that Europe's nineteenth-century divergence from the Old World owes much to the fortunate location of coal, which substituted for timber. This made Europe's failure to use its land intensively much less of a problem, while allowing growth in energy-intensive industries. Another crucial difference that he notes has to do with trade. Fortuitous global conjunctures made the Americas a greater source of needed primary products for Europe than any Asian periphery. This allowed Northwest Europe to grow dramatically in population, specialize further in manufactures, and remove labor from the land, using increased imports rather than maximizing yields. Together, coal and the New World allowed Europe to grow along resource-intensive, labor-saving paths."--BOOK JACKET.

First Sentence

THERE IS no consensus on how Europe became uniquely wealthy by the mid-nineteenth century.

Subjects

Other Editions

• The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy.PaperbackPrinceton University Press2000-02-22
• The Great DivergencePaperbackPrinceton University Press2001-12-03
• Great DivergencePrinceton University Press2009-01-01
• Great DivergencePrinceton University Press2009-01-01
• Great DivergencePrinceton University Press2021-01-01
• Great DivergencePrinceton University Press2021-01-01