Book Review

Why Europe grew rich and Asia did not: global divergence, 1600-1850

This book is a welcome addition to the Great Divergence debate, following the publication of Before and Beyond Divergence by R.Bin Wong and Why the West Rules for Now by Ian Morris. This book tries to apply the ‘California hypothesis’ to the Indian case. The California Hypothesis was essentially postulated by Kenneth Pomeranz in his ‘The Great Divergence: China, Europe and the Making of the Modern World Economy’, published in 2001, and ‘Re-Orient: The Global Economy in the Asian Age’ by Andre Gunder Frank, published in 1998. The broad lines of argument here are that instead of falling behind since the Ming age, the Chinese economy actually functioned rather well till the 18th century. The Industrial revolution gave Europe a temporary advantage, leading to the emergence of the ‘great divergence’ in modern times. Parthasarathi has tried to apply this argument in the Indian context.