steadily apart from the continent, acquiring in the process increased political and economic power.” England’s demographic pattern was thus essential to its economic growth during the early modern period but other factors, including its coal resources, were essential to its industrial revolution. Zanden, Jan Luiten van, The Long Road to the Industrial Revolution: The European Economy in a Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2009. P. xiii, 341. 12 tls. 40 figs. 1 Global Perspective, 1000-1800, map. For many years economic historians have been debating what has been called the ‘Great Divergence,’ or when and how Western European economic growth increased relative to that of advanced economic regions in China and Japan. Their focus was originally on the period of the industrial revolution in Europe. More recently, evidence has mounted that the divergence of economic growth between Europe and Asia occurred during the early modern period, well before the industrial revolution of the late 18th century. This important study, based upon many quantitative indices of economic growth from to 10th to the 19th centuries, van Zanden, who has been a major contributor to this debate, has shifted the focus on the beginning of European economic growth to the medieval period. He argues that the first industrial revolution should be seen as a runway” of preparation before the industrial revolution could off” during the “long “take late 18th century. Van Zanden argues that for most of Europe the medieval period was more dynamic than the period from 1500 to 1800. The growth of the European economy from 900 to 1300 took place on a pan-European scale and consisted of strong population growth and an increase in per capita real income. From c. 1500 to 1800 growth was restricted to the North Sea region—and especially in Flanders in the 16th century, the Netherlands during its Golden Age in the late 16th to mid 17th centuries, and Britain after the early 17th century. By contrast, per capita income in the rest of Western Europe stagnated and even declined between 1500 and 1800. The emergence of different growth paths in Western Europe has been labeled as the ‘Little Divergence.” Van Zanden not only set out to document the European divergences but to explain why it happened. An earlier generation of economic growth theorists tended to explain long-term economic growth in terms of the accumulation of capital and technological innovation (economists call this growth, or having its origins externally). More recently, new economic ‘exogenous’ growth theories have been developed, which focus on why, where and when human capital
steadily apart from the continent, acquiring in the process increased political and economic power.” England’s demographic pattern was thus essential to its economic growth during the early modern period but other factors, including its coal resources, were essential to its industrial revolution. Zanden, Jan Luiten van, The Long Road to the Industrial Revolution: The European Economy in a Global Perspective, 1000-1800, Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2009. P. xiii, 341. 12 tls. 40 figs. 1 map. For many years economic historians have been debating what has been called the ‘Great Divergence,’ or when and how Western European economic growth increased relative to that of advanced economic regions in China and Japan. Their focus was originally on the period of the industrial revolution in Europe. More recently, evidence has mounted that the divergence of economic growth between Europe and Asia occurred during the early modern period, well before the industrial revolution of the late 18th century. This important study, based upon many quantitative indices of economic growth from to 10th to the 19th centuries, van Zanden, who has been a major contributor to this debate, has shifted the focus on the beginning of European economic growth to the medieval period. He argues that the first industrial revolution should be seen as a “long runway” of preparation before the industrial revolution could “take off” during the late 18th century. Van Zanden argues that for most of Europe the medieval period was more dynamic than the period from 1500 to 1800. The growth of the European economy from 900 to 1300 took place on a pan-European scale and consisted of strong population growth and an increase in per capita real income. From c. 1500 to 1800 growth was restricted to the North Sea region—and especially in Flanders in the 16th century, the Netherlands during its Golden Age in the late 16th to mid 17th centuries, and Britain after the early 17th century. By contrast, per capita income in the rest of Western Europe stagnated and even declined between 1500 and 1800. The emergence of different growth paths in Western Europe has been labeled as the ‘Little Divergence.” Van Zanden not only set out to document the European divergences but to explain why it happened. An earlier generation of economic growth theorists tended to explain long-term economic growth in terms of the accumulation of capital and technological innovation (economists call this ‘exogenous’ growth, or having its origins externally). More recently, new economic growth theories have been developed, which focus on why, where and when human capital