Premium
The early modern great divergence: wages, prices and economic development in Europe and Asia, 1500–1800 1
Author(s) -
BROADBERRY STEPHEN,
GUPTA BISHNUPRIYA
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the economic history review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.014
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1468-0289
pISSN - 0013-0117
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0289.2005.00331.x
Subject(s) - great divergence , purchasing power , china , western europe , divergence (linguistics) , productivity , economics , goods and services , purchasing power parity , economy , geography , development economics , international trade , economic growth , macroeconomics , archaeology , linguistics , philosophy , european union , exchange rate
SUMMARY Contrary to the claims of Pomeranz, Parthasarathi, and other ‘world historians’, the prosperous parts of Asia between 1500 and 1800 look similar to the stagnating southern, central, and eastern parts of Europe rather than the developing north‐western parts. In the advanced parts of India and China, grain wages were comparable to those in north‐western Europe, but silver wages, which conferred purchasing power over tradable goods and services, were substantially lower. The high silver wages of north‐western Europe were not simply a monetary phenomenon, but reflected high productivity in the tradable sector. The ‘great divergence’ between Europe and Asia was already well underway before 1800.