Lecture 1/2 - Progress + The Great Divergence

What is this graph called?

• Pinker’s graph

• The “hockey stick of global prosperity”

The hockey stick of prosperity

• New medicine and technology

• Higher living standards

• Longer lives

• These factors also help grow the global economy

Graph of global inequality

• Klein’s graph

• “Hockey stick of doom”

• Climate change has knock on effects → threatens human civilization itself

What is the Great Divergence?

The process by which the economies of Europe and North America began to diverge from those of the rest of the world

Why did Europeans think the Great Divergence happened?

1. Culture → led to growth

2. Race → Europeans were just racially superior, which is why the economy was better

These aren’t the reasons, was just a reason to fuel superiority complexes

Pomeranz

• The GD didn’t begin until 1750, even 1800

• Before that was a “world of resemblances” → both Europe and Asia had similar wealth, standard of living, economic activity, etc + eco. constraints

Vasco de Gama

• Portuguese explorer in the 15th century who found a route to India

• When he gave gifts to the King of Calicut, he was highly unimpressed → poor people from Mecca and India could give better

China’s Age of Exploration

• 70 years BEFORE de Gama

• Their “treasure ships” were much bigger and had more crew than Columbus

• Proves that there isn’t European culture/racial superiority didn’t exist → Asia had impressive tech. + wealth

Ecological constraints

• Limits pop + econ growth

• Both Western Europe and the Yangzi Delta region faced similar constraints

• Both regions needed either an industrial breakthrough or more resources

Thomas Malthus

• 1766-1834

• Growth of resources = liner

• Growth of pop = potentially exponential

• This keeps pop growth in check

Cause of the Great Divergence

1. Coal

2. Colonies

Coal

• Britain historically used wood for fuel → deforestation

• Turned to coal in the 16th century

Coal deposits in Britain

• Close to industry, wet

• The largest in Europe

Coal deposits in China

• Far from the Yangzi Delta

• Dry → way more explosive

• Chinese continue to use wood

Watt Steam Engine

• 1776

• Originally used for coal mining

• Coal extraction increases by 900% from 1700 → 1830

Steam engine produces:

Steamboat + trains → early 19th

What was the impact of the Watt Steam Engine?

• Turbocharged the British economy → “workshop of the world”

Steam and pollution

• Environmentally dangerous

• Great Smog of 1873 → 1100+ die

• Affected people’s sensory experiences → Van Gogh (paintings before vs. after London → super dark vs. light)

Portuguese Empire

• Looking for silks and spice from Asia

• Columbus reaches the Caribbean in 1492

• VdG reaches India 6 years later

British Empire

• British + French follow the Portuguese and Spanish Empires

• Brits defeat France in the Seven Years’ War (1756-63) → become the most powerful empire

• “The Empire on Which the Sun Never Sets”

How did Britain and Western Europe incorporate the rest of the world into a global economy?

• Imported from the Americas → land

• Slaves from West Africa sold in America → people

• Manufactured goods sold back to settlers in Americas → kept the cycle going

Ghost acreage

The amount of land Britain would have needed to get the same amount of resources domestically rather than from the New World

How much ghost acreage would have Britain needed?

• By 1830, 25-30 million ghost acres

• Britain’s total arable land was only 17 million acres

Why didn’t China acquire colonies?

• China’s “treasure” fleet final voyage was in 1430

• Voyages ended by 1433

• Ming implemented a “sea ban” → maritime activity restricted

The consequences of coal and colonies?

• Between 1815 and 1900, Britain’s coal, sugar, and cotton imports increased by 10-20x

• Brit’s economy diverges from the rest of the world

• Rest of Europe soon follows