Gifts of Mars: Warfare and Europe's Early Rise to Riches
Journal: The Journal of Economic Perspectives
Year: 2013

Western Europe surged ahead of the rest of the world long before technological growth became rapid. Europe in 1500 already had incomes twice as high on a per capita basis as Africa, and one-third greater than most of Asia. In this essay, we explain how Europe's tumultuous politics and deadly penchant for warfare translated into a sustained advantage in per capita incomes. We argue that Europe's rise to riches was driven by the nature of its politics after 1350—it was a highly fragmented continen