The Great Divergence
Subtitle: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: February 22, 2000
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 392
ISBN-13: 9780691005430
Subjects: Economic History; Economics; International - Economics; Economic conditions; Business/Economics; Business & Economics; Business / Economics / Finance; History; East Asia, Far East; Europe; Economic development; Modern - General; Economics - General; 18th century; Comparative Economics
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.