Prasannan Parthasarathi, "Why Europe Grew Rich and Asia Did Not: Global Economic Divergence, 1600-1850," (Cambridge University Press, 2011)

Why Europe Grew Rich and Asia Did Not provides a striking new answer to the classic question of why Europe industrialized 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. European industrialization Asia economic history Prasannan Parthasarathi Why Europe grew rich Asian economic divergence Global economic development India vs Europe economy Industrial Revolution factors Textile and coal industries history Ecological pressures in economic history State policies and economic outcomes Economic history of India, Japan, China Europe vs Asia industrialization Comparative economic history Science and technology in industrial growth Ottoman Empire economic history Economic divergence theories 18th-century global economies Industrial Revolution analysis Role of state in economic development East Asian Studies Podcast Global History Podcast Global History The Great Divergence Debate