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David S. Landes

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The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor Paperback – May 17, 1999

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"Readers cannot but be provoked and stimulated by this splendidly iconoclastic and refreshing book." ―Andrew Porter, New York Times Book Review

The Wealth and Poverty of Nations is David S. Landes's acclaimed, best-selling exploration of one of the most contentious and hotly debated questions of our time: Why do some nations achieve economic success while others remain mired in poverty? The answer, as Landes definitively illustrates, is a complex interplay of cultural mores and historical circumstance. Rich with anecdotal evidence, piercing analysis, and a truly astonishing range of erudition, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations is a "picture of enormous sweep and brilliant insight" (Kenneth Arrow) as well as one of the most audaciously ambitious works of history in decades.

Maps

Print length

658 pages
Language

English
Publisher

W. W. Norton & Company
Publication date

May 17, 1999
Dimensions

6.1 x 1.2 x 9.2 inches
ISBN-10

0393318885
ISBN-13

978-0393318883
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Powerful and lucid…There are few historians who would not be proud to be the author of this book."
― Eric Hobsbawm, Los Angeles Times

"Mr. Landes writes with verve and gusto…This is indeed good history."
― Douglass C. North, Wall Street Journal

"You cannot even begin to think about problems of economic development and convergence without knowing the story that Landes tells…I know of no better place to start thinking about the wealth and poverty of nations."
― J. Bradford DeLong, Washington Post

"Truly wonderful. No question that this will establish David Landes as preeminent in his field and in his time."
― John Kenneth Galbraith

"Enormously erudite and provocative…Never less than scintillating, witty, and brilliant."
― Kirkus Reviews

"A masterly survey…with verve, broad vision, and a whole series of sharp opinions that he is not shy about stating plainly."
― Robert Solow

"A picture of enormous sweep and brilliant insight…embodied in a light and vigorous prose which carries the reader along irresistibly."
― Kenneth Arrow

About the Author

David S. Landes (1924―2013) was professor emeritus at Harvard University and the author of The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, Bankers and Pashas, The Unbound Prometheus, and Revolution in Time.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company; unknown edition (May 17, 1999)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 658 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0393318885
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393318883
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.9 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.1 x 1.2 x 9.2 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #336,277 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #66 in Dutch History
- #224 in Income Inequality
- #280 in Development & Growth Economics (Books)

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David S. Landes

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Michael Greenwald

The History of Technology

Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2019

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The Wealth and Poverty of Nations is really a gigantic Niagara of the history of technological development with an overwhelming attention to detail that quickly overwhelmed me. Frankly, who eyeglasses improved productivity is a yawn to me!

This book of 525 pages would have been better buy if it was 350. What I expected was a discussion on why some nations are wealthy and others poor but the author did not even mention this until page 523 of 525 and then claimed it was not his job to provide answers It is a wordy text more designed to show the brilliance of the author than to grant insight..

While it's pretty obvious that the advance of technology has advanced the human race, the disparity between nations is clearly not the result of anything material. Singapore, with no resources is rich: Nigeria with an abundance is poor. The seminal question is: why? This book does not address that. There are also a number of easily challenged allegations, tossed off as fact, the most galling being that countries within a few thousand miles of the equator were too hot to develop, had disease and a drought/flood cycle, but we know of huge, powerful empires in the Amazon such as the Incas and powerful nations in Africa that flourished. Furthermore, air conditioning, medicine and reservoirs have solved those ancient problems, but still some countries that have all the resources to be rich are poor.

What we know about "why countries are poor" is that they have social and government systems that create poverty and degraded or non-existent capitalist systems that deter, defeat or de-incentivise personal gain. Wealthy nations have poured money into these places like into a black hole, thinking that the lack of money is the problem, whereas it is the lack of opportunity and the chance to benefit from one's efforts that count.

67 people found this helpful

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Terry W. Cobb

Amazing historical account of our human world

Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2019

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Well, I'm almost finished... about 1 hour to go. As soon as I finish this book I'm going to immediately start over and read it again. Just incredible! A veritable history book like no other. If the origins of differing cultures interests you this is your next book. I am exceptionally fascinated with the manner information is presented and the numerous footnotes provide another layer of insight. All stars from me!

11 people found this helpful

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William Santiago

Solid, well researched book.

Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2019

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I really enjoyed this book. I read it on break in about a week at work. If I could do a half star, it would be a 4.5. There are just two times that the author makes spurious connections. I won't ruin it, other than to quote the axiom "It's like preventing a man from having steak, because a baby can't eat it." You will see there are barely connected points made that have prima facie connections, but upon thinking about it, they don't other than a very base level.

Otherwise well done. Keep a notepad to check things. Remember, this was written at the end of the last century (1999). Hindsight proves and disproves many thing here, but that aside, the basic assertions are solid.

6 people found this helpful

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“ —Some people find it easier and more agreeable to take than to make.”

Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2021

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“—Some people find it easier and more agreeable to take than to make. This temptation marks all societies, and only moral training and vigilance can hold it in check.’’

This could serve as subtitle. Landes believes nations, people, groups create wealth or poverty.

Why holds this opinion?

“My aim in writing this book is to do world history. Not, however, in the multicultural, anthropological sense of intrinsic parity: all peoples are equal and the historian tries to attend to them all. Rather, I thought to trace and understand the main stream of economic advance and modernization: how have we come to where and what we are, in the sense of making, getting, and spending. That goal allows for more focus and less coverage.’’

And Landes does just that — ‘World History’ indeed! Even though he focused on the west, I learned much about Latin America, China, Japan, Thailand, Islam, etc., that was just . . . fascinating!

However, Landes is a historian, not an economist. So the lessons are developed from hundreds of detailed stories. Interesting, provocative, insightful.

For example . . . Why did fewer Jews die from disease? Poisoning Christian well water?

“The answer was found, not in changed religious belief or doctrine, but in industrial innovation. The principal product of the new technology that we know as the Industrial Revolution was cheap, washable cotton; and along with it mass-produced soap made of vegetable oils. For the first time, the common man could afford underwear, once known as body linen because that was the washable fabric that the well-to-do wore next to their skin. He (or she) could wash with soap and even bathe, although too much bathing was seen as a sign of dirtiness. Why would clean people have to wash so often? No matter. Personal hygiene changed drastically, so that commoners of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century often lived cleaner than the kings and queens of a century earlier.’’

This change to cotton underwear seems so banal. Yet, probably increased female fertility, reduced bladder infections, etc,. Explains high demand for cotton and start in industrial revolution with cotton factories.

Who would have thought? History. What influence continues?

“Advances in medicine and hygiene exemplify a much larger phenomenon: the gains from the application of knowledge and science to technology. These give us reason to be hopeful about the problems that cloud present and future. They even encourage us toward fantasies of eternal life or, better yet, eternal youth.’’

Or, ‘science’ can stop a pandemic cold. ‘Eternal youth to eternal life’!

“I propose to approach these problems historically. I do so because I am a historian by training and temperament, and in difficult matters of this kind, it is best to do what one knows and does best. But I do so also because the best way to understand a problem is to ask: How and why did we get where we are? How did the rich countries get so rich? Why are the poor countries so poor? Why did Europe take the lead in changing the world?’’

Asking good questions leads to better answers.

Why Europe?

“That still leaves the moral issue. Some would say that Eurocentrism is bad for us, indeed bad for the world, hence to be avoided. Those people should avoid it. As for me, I prefer truth to goodthink. I feel surer of my ground.’’

‘Truth over popularity’. And he does!

1 Nature’s Inequalities
2. Answers to Geography: Europe and China
3. European Exceptionalism: A Different Path
4. The Invention of Invention
5. The Great Opening
6. Eastward Ho!

7. From Discoveries to Empire
8. Bittersweet Isles
9. Empire in the East
10. For Love of Gain
11. Golconda
12. Winners and Losers: The Balance Sheet of Empire
13. The Nature of Industrial Revolution
14. Why Europe? Why Then?

15. Britain and the Others
16. Pursuit of Albion
17. You Need Money to Make Money
18. The Wealth of Knowledge
19. Frontiers
20. The South American Way
21. Celestial Empire: Stasis and Retreat

22. Japan: And the Last Shall Be First
23. The Meiji Restoration
24. History Gone Wrong?
25. Empire and After
26. Loss of Leadership
27. Winners and…
28. Losers

29. How Did We Get Here? Where Are We Going?

Property and property rights provide foundation to build economic success and remove failure. Why did the ‘west’ enshrine legal property rights? One reason . . .

“The concept of property rights went back to biblical times and was transmitted and transformed by Christian teaching. The Hebrew hostility to avitocracy, even their own, was formed in Egypt and the desert. Let me cite two examples, where the response to popular initiative is directly linked to the sanctity of possessions. When the priest Korach leads a revolt against Moses in the desert, Moses defends himself against charges of usurpation by saying, “I have not taken one ass from them, nor have I wronged any one of them” (Numbers 16:15).’’

Moses respected personal property. Legal rights.

“Similarly, when the Israelites call for a king, the prophet Samuel grants their wish but warns them of the consequences: a king, he tells them, will not be like him. “Whose ox have I taken, or whose ass have I taken?” (I Samuel 12:3).’’

Idea being, God’s prophet doesn’t take others property.

“This tradition, which set the Israelites apart from any of the kingdoms around and surely did much to earn them the hostility of nearby rulers—who needs such troublemakers?—tended to get lost in Christianity when that community of faith became a church, especially once that Church became the official, privileged religion of an autocratic empire.’’

Why?

“One cannot well bite the hand that funds. Besides, the word was not getting out, for the Church early decided that only qualified people, certain clerics for example, should know the Bible. The Good Book, with its egalitarian laws and morals, its prophetic rebukes of power and exaltation of the humble, invited indiscipline among the faithful and misunderstanding with the secular authorities. Only after censorship and edulcoration could it be communicated to the laity. So that it was not until the appearance of such heretical sects as the Waldensians (Waldo, c. 1175), the Lollards (Wiclif, c. 1376), Lutherans (1519 on), and Calvinists (mid-sixteenth), with their emphasis on personal religion and the translation of the Bible into the vernacular, that this Judaic-Christian tradition entered explicitly into the European political consciousness, by way of reminding rulers that they held their wealth and power of God, and then on condition of good behavior. An inconvenient doctrine.’’

Remember — wealth wasn’t produced until 1800’s. Bible truth powerful.

Another example . . .

“Records show that Protestant merchants and manufacturers played a leading role in trade, banking, and industry. In manufacturing centers in France and western Germany, Protestants were typically the employers, Catholics the employed. In Switzerland, the Protestant cantons were the centers of export manufacturing industry; the Catholic ones were primarily agricultural. In England, which by the end of the sixteenth century was overwhelmingly Protestant, the Dissenters (read Calvinists) were disproportionately active and influential in the factories and forges of the nascent Industrial Revolution.’’

Why these bible readers so different?

“The heart of the matter lay indeed in the making of a new kind of man—rational, ordered, diligent, productive. These virtues, while not new, were hardly commonplace. Protestantism generalized them among its adherents, who judged one another by conformity to these standards. This is a story in itself, one that Weber did surprisingly little with: the role of group pressure and mutual scrutiny in assuring performance—everybody looking at everyone else and minding one another’s business. Two special characteristics of the Protestants reflect and confirm this link. The first was stress on instruction and literacy, for girls as well as boys. This was a by-product of Bible reading. Good Protestants were expected to read the holy scriptures for themselves. (By way of contrast, Catholics were catechized but did not have to read, and they were explicitly discouraged from reading the Bible.) The result: greater literacy and a larger pool of candidates for advanced schooling; also greater assurance of continuity of literacy from generation to generation. Literate mothers matter.’’

Not the only scholar to reach this conclusion.

Because Landes thinks culture, ideas, traditions, beliefs cause wealth or poverty; he ends this book with Moses . . .

“ . . . I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore choose life.’’
—Deuteronomy 30:19

This work shoes tremendous research, overwhelming scholarship and depth of understanding. Nevertheless, easy to listen or read. I’ve done both. I found the audio book wonderful. Exceptional vocal presentation. (In fact, looked to find other audible books from this reader. He was that good.)

Hundreds and hundreds of notes (linked)

Great!

Hundreds and hundreds of references in bibliography

Overwhelming scholarship!

No photographs

Work deserves ten stars!

One person found this helpful

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Judy C.

One of the best books I've ever read

Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2015

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One of the best books I've ever read. It's difficult to see how one person could have written a book that is so expansive and covers so much material in depth. Absolutely fascinating. Eviscerates some of the more politically correct critics. His chapter on why China, despite some very important inventions, never became a power house. Very insightful and reasonable analysis. Very readable. Good writing. If you're thinking about this book versus something from Niall Ferguson, who writes on similar topics, choose Landes. You wont be disappointed.

20 people found this helpful

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GA Seydack

Successful marriage of History and Economics

Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2020

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For me as a passionate and ‘eternal’ student of economics and despiser of written history (half-truths, as a result comprising whole lies, not written as a tool for learning but as a weapon for achieving dominion), this book in its successful and illuminating marriage of history and economics was a fascinating eye-opener.

2 people found this helpful

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Dr. B. E. Kelly

it continues to be of great value and interest

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 26, 2016

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Although this book was essentially written twenty years ago, it continues to be of great value and interest, both for those interested in economic history (its primary concern) and for understanding more contemporary economic issues. The primary thesis of the book is the overriding importance of 'culture' (understood in the broadest sense of what human beings consider to be important in the organisation of their social lives and the values they transmit to their children) in determining whether a nation will be richer or poorer. The scope of the work, the breadth of knowledge, and the synthetic judgments are all highly impressive, and all of this is presented in an extremely readable style with many flashes of humour: a remarkable achievement in a work about economics. The allegation by one reviewer that the book has a 'trace of racism' is completely off-target. Ethnicity is not 'race', and neither ethnicity nor 'race' equates to culture. But attitudes to women, literacy, religion, human rights, work ethic, science and societal goals are definitely matters of culture.
The work becomes more diffuse and uncertain in tone in its closing chapters; perhaps this is to be expected in what is basically a work of economic history rather than prognosis. Among the many topics reviewed in this work, the following struck me of being of particular interest: how climate and
geography present challenges and obstacles to economic development; the corrupting effect of unearned wealth on a state (Spain's squandering of its gold and silver wealth form the Americas; compare the misuse of oil wealth today); the complex factors that gave rise to the industrial revolution in Britain and not elsewhere; the different and unexpected outcomes of the post-colonial world.
Throughout the book advocates a free, undogmatic and enterprising spirit that must be undergirded by the rule of law and confidence in trustworthy financial institutions - something that has taken a blow in recent years. A follow-up to this excellent work which examines the causes and
consequences of the Global Financial Crisis, the digital age, the mergence of crony-capitalist China, and gathering doubts about globalisation would be very welcome.

13 people found this helpful

Gm

Remarkable book!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 16, 2021

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I loved this book, it's so honest and straight to the point, it's refreshing. The author embarks on a journey to explain why some countries are richer and why some are poorer. It is history told from the perspective of economics, and as such, it focuses on a key element of history: how come Europe, this backwater bit of land that was so backwards a thousand years ago, turned out to conquer the world? Putting aside elements of luck and geographical circumstances, what enabled Europe to achieve such a tremendous degree of scientific advancement? Likewise, why did other societies lag behind? What caused China to be stuck in time? How did the Japanese catch up to the modern world? Why does the Middle East struggle to keep up? What made the United States such a different experiment when compared to South America? These and many other similar topics are explained with such mastery, it makes this work unique. The author is often citing opposing views and critique based in evidence and logic, and he colours the tale with examples and stories that make the reading such a pleasure one can't find a suitable rival. This book is one of the best I've read and I will read it again. Just go ahead and read it!

Tommmy Elkins1

... where it did and why countries are rich or poor. Shows that three factors determine the wealth or ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 27, 2015

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Economic history of the world that explains why the industrial revolution started where it did and why countries are rich or poor. Shows that three factors determine the wealth or poverty of a nation and they are geography, stupid politics and religions. Nothing you did not already know perhaps but a thoroughly reasoned explanation through the eye of a historical economist. This is essential reading for everyone interested in the effects of culture upon economic development.

2 people found this helpful

Jay

Excellent

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 13, 2021

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If you are interested in history and economic (from a practical point of view), this is a must read book.

Ciarán Casey

Loved it!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 11, 2020

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Just a brilliant book

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