The title of this book presents what is undeniably one of the most pivotal questions in economics and economic history: What are the ultimate causes behind the emergence of sustained growth in per capita incomes on a global scale?
Standard approaches to dealing with such questions are usually based either on a narrative style, in which the chronological historical sequence defines the order, or on a logical style, in which the structure arises from the comparison of the relative merits of the most plausible hypotheses. Opting for the latter, the authors provide an excellent analysis of those hypotheses about the determinants of economic growth in the long run. Throughout, they refrain from unveiling their preferences for a specific subset of answers, and they provide a kind of “neutral” account of the merits and demerits of the hypothesis, showing an impressive command of a wide array of recent contributions.
After the introductory overview in Chapter 1, Part I focuses on the five key factors that contribute to explaining the divergent economic paths in terms of income per capita of the different countries and regions of the world: geography (Chapter 2), institutions (Chapter 3), culture (Chapter 4), demographic characteristics (Chapter 5), and the role of these countries and regions in the global process of colonization since the fifteenth century (Chapter 6).
Part II of the book is a kind of geographical zoom-in and then a zoom-out. It starts by asking in what sense Europe was different from other regions of the world (Chapter 7). Then it narrows the perspective to ask which specific characteristics of the British economy were crucial preconditions for the Industrial Revolution (Chapter 8). The zoom-out starts by focusing on the Second Industrial Revolution and how industrialization and economic growth spread to other parts of the world (concentrating on Western Europe, the United States, and the Soviet Union—Chapter 9, and Japan, the Asian Tigers, and China—Chapter 10).
This organization in two different structures is crucial for the authors to be able to adopt two alternative and complementary ways of organizing the information. In the first section, the only constraint guiding the choice of the selected contributions is logic or thematic: “Is element X important to explain the onset of sustained economic growth?” Evidence goes from narrowly focused studies centered around very specific areas or periods (like the Athenian democracy or the coalitions of Maghrebi traders) to much broader, overarching explanations like the highly influential hypothesis of the reversal of fortune. The second part is much more historical, and the explanandum is chronologically and spatially defined. This approach requires that hypotheses be applicable to specific places and times, infusing the rhetoric with a distinctly historical dimension. What stands out is how historical evidence is structured, often implicitly aligning with the logical frameworks commonly employed by economists when addressing these issues. In essence, while economic theory is not overtly present through formulas and models (which could alienate many potential readers), its influence is profoundly felt in the organization of information, the formulation of questions, and the coherence of arguments.
Such an ambitious endeavor comes with unavoidable trade-offs. Chapter after chapter, after enjoying the clarity of the presentation of the contributions, a reader is tempted to demand a precise analysis of the logical interactions of the different elements within and across hypotheses … and this is not always the case. Probably Chapter 3 is the one that leaves the reader (at least this reader) less satisfied in this regard. The authors introduce the concepts of institutions, economic freedom, property rights, the legal system, the rule of law, state capacity … (and the list continues) without establishing a precise set of conceptual connections among them. I would agree that some of these concepts and their possible causal links are difficult to define in a simple and uncontroversial way, but the effort to accommodate the discourse to a broad audience generates, in this case, a feeling that “everything has to do with everything.” Indeed, the lack of precision and substance in this chapter’s summary is indicative of the difficulties of trying to be simple and intuitive when explaining complex topics with elusive definitions.
On the other hand, the book has, in my view, obvious and outstanding merits, like its broad scope of potential readers: first, it can be very attractive for high-school history and economics teachers, for semi-specialized non-academic readers like economists working in the private sector, or for people with an amateur interest in social sciences; although sometimes the lists of references about an issue are rather long and demanding, the exposition is clear, attractive, and engaging. Moving to the more specific market of academia, several chapters in Part 1 can be transformed into excellent introductions for different sections of an undergrad course in Topics of Economic Growth. I would say that the analysis of the main debates in Chapters Two to Six could be an enlightening and provocative initial point for any course that, focusing on the ultimate causes of the sustained increase in productivity, tries to move beyond the more traditional hypothesis centered on capital accumulation and technological improvement. Third, many sections of the book, in particular some in Part II, are quite well suited to be used in the typical course in Economic History that is usually offered to undergrad students in economics at many U.S. American and European universities because of its unusual combination of a well-chosen historical structure with a clear use of economic thinking in the explanations.
Overall, this book is highly recommended for a wide-ranging audience. It effectively translates a well-curated selection of the most significant recent contributions into easily comprehensible insights, offering a motivating debate around one of the pivotal questions in the long-run evolution of the global economy.
