Book cover of Why Europe Grew Rich and Asia Did Not: Global Economic Divergence, 1600-1850

Book description

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…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Why Europe Grew Rich and Asia Did Not as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Most people think Europe grew rich through industrialization and free trade. What they don’t realize is that this industrialization was initially started because of protectionism. Prasannan Parthasarathi shows how Britain banned the import of Indian cotton cloth, known as Calico, and developed its own industry. The free trade happened only after Britain succeeded in industrializing.

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