Before and Beyond Divergence: A New Look at the Economic History of China and Europe

Abstract

This chapter has two purposes: we wish to introduce our new book, Before and Beyond Divergence; the Politics of Economic Change in China and Europe (Rosenthal and Wong 2011) to an audience that would not otherwise encounter it, and we also wish to make the claim that the important methodological and substantive issues uncovered by our comparative economic history of China and Europe are relevant to current economic analysis. Why did China decline after 1400 only to reestablish itself as a major presence in the global economy after 1980? Why did Europe, a region torn by strife and suffering and economic collapse after the fall of the Roman Empire, become the birthplace of modern economic growth? These two questions are at the forefront of research in economic history. Answering them does not merely satisfy an academic curiosity; it also matters for understanding how the world is changing today.