The Great Divergence I: The West

George Hong Jiang ()
Additional contact information
George Hong Jiang: Heidelberg University

Chapter Chapter 7 in The Imperial Mode of China, 2023, pp 203-226 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract The lasting material prosperity in ancient China has impressed many economic historians. In Maddison’s research, China possessed a leading position in the world economy in ancient times (Maddison, Angus. (1998). Chinese Economic Performance in the Long Run, 960–2030 AD. OECD Publishing). However, its backwardness in the industrial era was equally striking, especially in comparison with the progress made by Western EuropeWestern Europe since the Industrial RevolutionIndustrial Revolution. From the sixteenth century, Western Europe, especially the Netherlandsthe Netherlands and Great BritainGreat Britain, revolutionised its economic and social institutions. While Ming-Qing China was slowing to an economic standstill in terms of qualitative development, Western Europe was changing its commercial organisations, relations between the government and society, status of citizens and lifestyles of individuals. A comprehensive economic revolution was happening between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. The result of such a revolution is that Western Europe enjoys its economic leadership until today. How Western Europe rose above ancient China in the early modern time is still relevant and can help us understand the world today (Ferguson, Niall. (2011). Civilization: The West and the Rest. Penguin Books). This chapter will present the trajectories of the first two modern economies, the Netherlands and Great Britain, and the driving forces behind their spectacular economic growtheconomic growth and social changes.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palscp:978-3-031-27015-4_7

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9783031270154

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-27015-4_7

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Studies in Economic History from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().