Customer Reviews

A Concise Economic History of the World: From Paleolithic Times to the Present

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of the best books on economic history that I have read. This book is an excellent start for a person interested in economic history: it is well written, it is well structured, and overall fun to read. This book is an excellent overview and a very good guide. One thing for sure: it's an excellent way to spend your time. It enriched my knowledge of economics and history and became a good companion.

Don't expect "A concise economic history of the world" from Cameron's work. Do expect, however, an excellent account of Europe's economic history. If you want a more global, less "economic" account of the pre-modern world, try Janet Abu-Lughod. As for the modern world, a synthesis of Cameron and Asian experts would provide the comprehensive picture Cameron's title implies.

Rondo Cameron certainly explains the hold economic history of the world. Rondo takes you from the ages before Christ to the twenthieth century. Why did the Roman Empire went down?, Why Spain was not able to achieve higher levels of economical well-being despite their big colonies overseas?: Questions like these are answered in Rondo's excellent book. If a man wants to forsee the future, he has to go back and learn where he comes from. Economics and History were successfully married in the book, so historians, economists and financiers will find it helpfull.

The title of this book should read "An Economic History of Europe," because 90% of the material focuses on the economic development of Europe. This is understandable considering that the industrial revolution first occured in Europe, and pulsated outwards. However, the amount of time given towards explaining the economies of the middle east, Asia, Oceania, Australasia, Africa, Latin America, and even the USA are so minute that the title is decieving and for all intensive purposes incorrect.

Nevertheless, the book is quite interesting, as it progresses from the dawn of human civilization with very concise and brief summaries well in to the twentieth century becoming more desciptive and detailed. If you are interested in how the world economy arrived to its current level, then I would suggest that this book is a good read and worth your while. Since this edition was published in 1997, it is excusable for the author to omit the economic consequences of the Euro, the rise of China and the rest of Asia, and the economic implications of Septemer 11. The author also refuses to offer his speculative view on the future of the world economies, thereby leaving the reader to do his or her on guess work. Although the introduction of the book, on the current inequality of world economies, is quite interesting, it is not elaborated upon towards the end of the book, and causes a lack of continuity. If you wish to understand better the world economy, you would be better off reading the encyclopedia, Lonely Planet travel guides, or perhaps even better, (what I have done) which is to travel and see these countries for yourself with your own eyes.

This book is too elementary, in terms of economic history, for even an intro level undergraduate book on the subject. For a better introduction see Braudel's "Wheels of Commerce". In addition, it lacks any discussion of theory(ies) or presentations thereof as to what drives growth and why it has occured in some areas and not others. After all, is this not the purpose of studying economic history?

This book is more of a history book than an economics book. The reader should not expect to encounter a lot of mathematics or graphs. As the title states, this book represents the history of economics from the dawn of modern human beings to the present.

This is one of the best works by Neal. While yes it is heavy on Europe, the explanations of Egypt and China are exceptional.

A sure buy is you want to study the topic better.

If one looks to today's world he overarching political and economic structure is that of westernized globalization. It seems that most political movements are either for globalization who to varying degrees either against or promoting the slowing of its effects. How does this relate to the world we have seen previously in the world?

Cameron and Neal hope to give a complete history of the trends and stages of the world economy from the first humans to today's world (circa 2001) and cram it into fewer than 500 pages. In this fourth edition of their 1989 original, they have produced an adequate work. They take surprising stands on certain issues, like the Industrial Revolution while not accounting for some recent scholarship on effects of neo-liberal globalization.

Their thesis of the logistic (the S shaped growth curve of biology) to help explain periods of European growth may help to enlighten some trends in world economic history. The first logistic happens in the early fourteenth century; while the second takes place in the seventeenth century. After the logistic the "life for ordinary men and women were becoming increasingly difficult in the decelerating phases" (p. 17). Cameron and Neal place the third logistic in the first part of the nineteenth century.

As the nineteenth century is considered the beginning of "modern industry," the effects of the "industrial revolution" have become a major determinant of modern growth. Yet, Cameron and Neal call this a misnomer. The growth of population and agricultural efficiency in the period can help to explain the third logistic. Therefore for Cameron and Neal the Industrial Revolution was no revolution. One can look to Marx' description of what we think of as revolution: it is only the big bang at the end of real social revolution. Is it not possible that the industrial revolution was a revolution; just due to a dearth of ready capital there was no big bang but a steady growth of investment into the world of iron and coal?

The spend time discussing the revolutions of 1989 as the prelude to the more modern era of both economics and politics. The year 2001 is declared a watershed, as we will view the successes and failures of globalization. Here they follow neo-liberal party line. Let's quote Adam Smith about growth but ignore his portions of the Wealth of Nations regarding equality.

At no point in the work do I recall the terms "equality," "inequality," "Gini coefficient," or "Lorenz Curve;" and, none of these terms appear in the index. (Stolper-Samuelson and Hecksher-Ohlin are equally shirked). The fact is they turn blinders to the growing inequality found at stages of globalization of the economy, neither mentioning the scholarship nor even attempting to excuse the matter.

While the actual trends of inequality in today's globalization may not have been readily available in 2001, there were those who had not drank the neo-liberal Kool Aid and were already challenging some of the assumptions. Jefferey Williamson's 1997 paper "Globalization and Inequality, Past and Present" shows that while there was overall growth in the world economy's first major globalization from 1890-1914, the fruits were seldom shared by the working class. This is the dirty little secret of globalization, which is invariably ignored by Cameron and Neal. Perhaps they can use the excuse they only had 500 pages to tell the history of the economic world.

I am going to give this book two stars. I see no reason to read it if it were not assigned for a class. Yet, if it assigned it will be one of the easier economic textbooks to read which you'll ever be assigned.