Library

"The Great Divergence" is the masterpiece of Pomeranz, a representative of the California School, and has been a best-seller for 20 years. In this book, based on a large amount of materials, Pomeranz examines the economic development of major countries in Europe and Asia in the old world and their core regions, and explores a series of key issues that affect the formation of the modern world economy: Why did England not become Jiangnan? Why have China and Europe taken different paths? According to Pomeranz, in 1750, the economic core areas of England and China were very similar in terms of life expectancy, agricultural product market, labor system, land use, capital accumulation and technology. The ecological environment in the core areas of China and Japan was no worse than that of Western Europe. Throughout the 18th century, the core areas of the Old World faced local shortages of land-intensive products. The East and the West are on generally similar economic development paths, and the West has no obvious advantage.