Why Europe Grew Rich and Asia Did Not
Global Economic Divergence, 1600–1850

A striking new answer to the classic question of why Europe industrialised and Asia did not.

Prasannan Parthasarathi (Author)

9780521168243, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 11 August 2011

380 pages, 6 b/w illus. 4 maps 7 tables
22.9 x 15.3 x 1.8 cm, 0.6 kg

'Parthasarathi's important new book places India right in the middle of the ongoing debate on the 'Great Divergence' in the world economy. It argues convincingly for a distinct Indian path into the modern world.' Jan Luiten van Zanden, International Institute of Social History

Why Europe Grew Rich and Asia Did Not provides a striking new answer to the classic question of why Europe industrialised from the late eighteenth century and Asia did not. Drawing significantly from the case of India, Prasannan Parthasarathi shows that in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the advanced regions of Europe and Asia were more alike than different, both characterized by sophisticated and growing economies. Their subsequent divergence can be attributed to different competitive and ecological pressures that in turn produced varied state policies and economic outcomes. This account breaks with conventional views, which hold that divergence occurred because Europe possessed superior markets, rationality, science or institutions. It offers instead a groundbreaking rereading of global economic development that ranges from India, Japan and China to Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire and from the textile and coal industries to the roles of science, technology and the state.

1. Introduction
Part I. Setting the Stage: Europe and Asia before Divergence: 2. India and the global economy, 1600–1800
3. Political institutions and economic life
Part II. The Divergence of Britain: 4. The European response to Indian cottons
5. State and market: Britain, France, and the Ottoman Empire
6. From cotton to coal
Part III. The Indian Path: 7. Science and technology in India, 1600–1800
8. Industry in early nineteenth-century India
9. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Economic history [KCZ], Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], General & world history [HBG]