Customer Reviews

Development Centre Studies The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective

5 star:		(4)
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This book is seemingly a culmination of the painstaking works taken by Angus Maddison for decades. As I liked his previous works such as the Phases of Capitalist Development, so I like this book very much. Of course, the book contains many 'guesstimations' that are unacceptable to today's economists' rigor. This is more so when the author ventures into almost two millenia before 1820, for which he did relatively little work previously. But even here the book apparently provides reasonable figures synthesizing existing evidences with a lucid interpretation, providing illuminating starting points for future studies.

In the last few years I have been searching books offering a general overview of the past, and I have realized that many books entitled "History of ...whatever" only provide information about the West, the rest of the world being almost ignored.

Maddison's on world economy is different, it is truly global. It offers historical statistics of the last two thousand years and is to be read together with "The world economy: Historical Statistics " (a combined edition of both volumes is to be published on December 2007). In my opinion this is masterful work that can be savored by the professional historian and educated layperson alike, so my rate is between 5 (content) and 4 (pleasure, sometimes falling to 3, sometimes raising to 5). I highly recommend the two volumes.

Other works whose scope is as amazingly global as Maddison's and which I would suggest reading (hoping that will be of use for those looking for a broad framework to understand ourselves) are the following: 1. Agrarian cultures: "Pre-industrial societies" by Patricia Crone; 2. Government: "The History of Government" by S.E. Finer; 3. Ideas: "Ideas, a History from Fire to Freud", by Peter Watson; 4. Religion: "The Phenomenon of Religion: A Thematic Approach" by Moojan Momen; and 5. War: "War in Human Civilization" by Azar Gat.

Attempting to put numbers on past economic activity is a deeply fraught exercise, as the author freely admits.

That being said, this is a book full of useful information and striking estimates. I know of no better place to get a genuine feel for the economic history of the last millennia, but particularly the last two centuries. There is something to startle or surprise anyone within these pages. A necessary edition to the library of anyone seriously interested in history.

Angus Maddison's The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective is highly unique because of the long historical perspective it brings to the understanding of global economic development and fluctuations. Maddison provides data on population growth, per-capita income, and gross domestic product on regional, national, and global levels for the last 1000 years. The last two centuries receive special attention. For more books on economic development go to my profile and see my Amazon Listmania "Future Studies Reading List."