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Mark Koyama

How the World Became Rich: The Historical Origins of Economic Growth 1st Edition

by Mark Koyama (Author), Jared Rubin (Author)

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Most humans are significantly richer than their ancestors. Humanity gained nearly all of its wealth in the last two centuries. How did this come to pass? How did the world become rich?

Mark Koyama and Jared Rubin dive into the many theories of why modern economic growth happened when and where it did. They discuss recently advanced theories rooted in geography, politics, culture, demography, and colonialism. Pieces of each of these theories help explain key events on the path to modern riches. Why did the Industrial Revolution begin in 18th-century Britain? Why did some European countries, the US, and Japan catch up in the 19th century? Why did it take until the late 20th and 21st centuries for other countries? Why have some still not caught up?

Koyama and Rubin show that the past can provide a guide for how countries can escape poverty. There are certain prerequisites that all successful economies seem to have. But there is also no panacea. A society’s past and its institutions and culture play a key role in shaping how it may – or may not – develop.

ISBN-10

1509540237
ISBN-13

978-1509540235
Edition

1st
Publisher

Polity
Publication date

May 23, 2022
Language

English
Dimensions

6 x 0.9 x 9 inches
Print length

240 pages
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A vivid and crystal-clear summary of the very large body of research compiled in the past two decades on the most important question in economic history. Well informed, solidly anchored in historical facts and economic analysis, this book is a must for economics students."
―Joel Mokyr, Northwestern University

"In our current moment, when many are worried about the future of growth for the environment and the planet, this thought-provoking book by two leading scholars tells the story of how and why economic growth took off, and how it hugely raised living standards, but also increased inequality and misery on the way. This is a must-read for anybody worried about the future of growth and poverty on our planet."
―Daron Acemoglu, MIT

"[T]imely, consolidated, and refreshingly succinct.... It is likely to be a seminal text for years to come."
―The Economic History Review

About the Author

Mark Koyama is Associate Professor of Economics at George Mason University.
Jared Rubin is Professor of Economics at Chapman University.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Polity; 1st edition (May 23, 2022)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1509540237
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1509540235
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.9 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #77,533 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #22 in Development & Growth Economics (Books)
- #35 in Economics (Books)
- #186 in Economic History (Books)

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126 ratings

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Professor Jared Rubin
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Jared Rubin is an economic historian interested in the political and religious economies of the Middle East and Western Europe. His research focuses on historical relationships between political and religious institutions and their role in economic development. His book, Rulers, Religion, and Riches: Why the West Got Rich and the Middle East Did Not (Cambridge University Press, 2017) explores the role that Islam and Christianity played in the long-run “reversal of fortunes” between the economies of the Middle East and Western Europe. Rubin graduated with a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University in 2007 and a B.A. from the University of Virginia in 2002. He is the Co-Director of Chapman University’s IRES and the former Executive Director and Program Chair of ASREC. His work has appeared in numerous top economics journals.
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Mark Koyama
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Mark Koyama is an economic historian at George Mason University. Born and educated in the UK, He obtained his BA in Modern History and Economics from Trinity College, Oxford and his DPhil (Ph.D.) in Economics from Wadham College, Oxford in 2010.
He has taught at the University of Oxford, Brown University, the University of York as well as George Mason and held visiting positions at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. His main research interests lies are in the origins of economic growth and liberalism in Europe and in comparative state development. His research has appeared in numerous leading journals including Economic Journal, International Economic Review, the Journal of Development Economics, the Journal of Law and Economics, Explorations in Economic History and many others. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Economic History and the Association for the study of Religion, Culture, and Economics (ASREC).
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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5

126 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

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W. D ONEIL

Penetrating summary of what is actually knowable about the subject at this point

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 3, 2023

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A great many people, I have found, are entirely certain that they know the secret to how nations may grow rich. It is "free enterprise," "science," "central planning," "small government," or any of a long list of other such formulae. Some of them, such as "John" and "A. Klopp," have read this book apparently in hopes of finding their preconceptions validated and come away disappointed, as their reviews demonstrate. Indeed, anyone who turns to this book in search of simple formulae will be similarly disappointed.

In reality, Messrs. Koyama and Rubin have done a remarkably good job, in just 225 clearly-argued pages, of sifting through the results of the past few remarkably fruitful decades of research into the relevant economic history and synthesizing concise and coherent models of how first Britain and then the United States became the first nations in history to achieve sustained economic growth, thus making their populations rich beyond anything that their ancestors had ever imagined. More briefly (reflecting the state of existing research) they examine the rise of economic growth first in much of the rest of Europe, then in Japan, the Asian Tiger states, and China. Finally they examine the prospects for the rest of the world, expressing very cautious and tentative optimism.

The reasons for their caution are made clear in the first parts of the book where the authors carefully examine the last two millennia or so of European and Asian history to sort out why, despite some spurts of prosperity and growth, real sustained growth did not come until 19th Century Britain and the U.S.

All in all, for those not already absolutely certain that they "know" the secret to economic growth this is a very valuable and thought-provoking book that summarizes our state of knowledge and makes it clear how much more we have to learn.

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A. Klopp

A decent, brief summary of modern perspective on the economic history of industrialization

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 17, 2022

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Economic history scholars, it seems, are obsessed with writing about "how the world became rich". Perhaps because these books always seem to find an audience, whether NGO wonks or Wall St. types. As far as these types of books go this one is mercifully short and comprehensively researched even if it never seems to find an "answer". Of course "finding" the answer would leave the authors open to the sin of disprovability thereby pulling the curtain away from the Wizard of Economics.

What I liked:
In ~200 pages the authors canvas all the relevant arguments touching on why the "West" became far richer than the rest of the world. Admittedly this is a difficult thing to nail down, though recent research has gone a long way to present data and cast away some unsavory myths. The authors don't arrive at any particular answer and the book is more of a survey/critique illuminating existing research and narratives - but this is not a bad thing. I recommend this book to anyone wishing to learn the current state of academic thinking on the subject and the extensive bibliography leaves the reader plenty of options for follow up.

What i disliked:
In a sop to millenial-infiltrated publishers the book was forced to preamble a 10 page apologia lamenting all the many wrongs of capitalism for not making a perfectly equal world where we all live in a lollipop house on gumdrop lane. Moreover, the authors never get off the back foot on that issue and repeatedly apologize for just about every sin committed in the last 500 years. This is as cloying as it is unnecessary - I don't need to be told slavery or child labor is evil, but thanks anyway.

The book also contains a few nuanced glosses to historical episodes - the omission or clarification of which would have strengthened their arguments. For instance in commenting on the diverging perspectives on the place of innovation in early modern Europe vs. China, the authors fail to ascribe the different paths taken to the views of elites on the value of invention. Not only did China invent gunpowder, mechanical clocks, paper money and the printing press (even movable type!), they never sought to push each invention to their logical conclusion, or make them universally accessible, as Europeans tended to do. Clocks remained court curiosities instead of the center of town; printing presses were essentially state secrets and technology dispersal banned. See Landes, "Revolution in Time" for more (one book curiously absent from the biblio). There are several other concerning missteps like this.

The authors also spend too little time reflecting on second wave industrialization in the United States in what seems like an awkward crab-walk to steer clear of controversial issues. According to the authors industrialization of cotton textiles would've proceeded eventually even without slavery. But in defending this claim they point to research showing relatively small changes in cotton prices between the 1810s and 1860s - two totally separate eras in manufacturing. When downplaying the importance of tariffs in protecting early north-east manufacturing they rely on one study on the tin roof industry which hardly overcomes the more common-sensical thesis that tariffs DO protect growing industries in developing economies (witness South Korea - see "Bad Samaritans" by Chang).

Ultimately these analytical nuisances don't detract from this being a worthwhile survey and good introduction to the question and I still recommend.

15 people found this helpful

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GGreene

Interesting & concise introduction to the history & determinants of long-term economic growth

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 7, 2022

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As an economist fascinated by economic growth for 40+ years, I can recommend this book highly to anyone interested in this important topic. For the general reader, it integrates virtually all the important academic views on what drives sustained economic growth in a readable, non-academic style. For economists in other areas, it provides an excellent overview, with detailed references for more intensive drill-downs on specific issues in the growth-economics literature.

5 people found this helpful

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Dale Henn

Excellent insight

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 22, 2022

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Important perspective to gauge the 21st century - astonishing increase in world per capita income since the 18th century.
The world is rich - almost everyone today is better off than royalty of 1800. More work to do but massive poverty reduction to date.
Detailed discussion of how that happened with extensive citations establishing credibility and for further reading.
Very readable. Clearly explained. Causation evaluated thoughtfully.
A great read. Thx.

6 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Excellent owerview

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 8, 2022

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Convincing data on economic growth in different countries and good overview over why growth did take off in some countries and not others.

2 people found this helpful

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John - CookEatShare

Just a rehash

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 17, 2022

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I love this topic and was hoping to get some new insights from this book. I found nothing new or original. The Origin of Wealth is so much more original and powerful. If you’ve read nothing on this subject, maybe this overview will be valuable for you. It was very disappointing for me.

One person found this helpful

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Macario Schettino

extraordinary

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 10, 2022

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The best book on economic growth in a long time. Its inclusion of culture as a very important complement to institutions makes it much more useful than other previous books that are also important, like Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson… a must!

13 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

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E. MACKAAY

Synthèse remarquable du savoir sur le développement économique

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on June 5, 2022

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Remarquable synthèse de ce que l’on sait et de ce que l’on ne sait pas encore sur le déveppement économique, et notamment le grand décollage depuis deux siècles et demi. Le livre englobe et dépasse, mais en les vulgarisant, les leçons proposées par Acemoglu et Robinson (Narrow corridor), McCloskey (Bourgeois dignity), North, Greif, Mokyr et tant d’autres. Un tour de force époustouflant !

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Aurora

Muy buen libro

Reviewed in Mexico 🇲🇽 on October 15, 2022

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De lectura amena, lenguaje sencillo y muy buen referente para entender el desarrollo económico

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Luis A Ibarra Pardo

Excelente!

Reviewed in Mexico 🇲🇽 on November 17, 2022