THE WEALTH —S AND POVERTY OF NATIONS WHY SOME ARE SO RICH AND SOME SO POOR DAVID S. LANDES ISBN 0393-04017-8 USA $30.00 CAN. $39.99 F or the last six hundred years, the world's wealthiest economies have been mostly European. Late in our century, the balance has begun to shift toward Asia, where countries such as Japan have grown at astounding rates. Why have these dom- inant nations been blessed, and why are so many others still mired in poverty? The answer lies in this important and timely book, where David S. Landes, taking his cue from Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, tells the long, fascinat- ing story of wealth and power throughout the world: the creation of wealth, the paths of winners and losers, the rise and fall of nations. He studies history as a process, attempting to understand how the world's cul- tures lead to—or retard—economic and military suc- cess and material achievement. Countries of the West, Landes asserts, prospered early through the interplay of a vital, open society focused on work and knowledge, which led to increased productivity, the creation of new technolo- gies, and the pursuit of change. Europe's key advantage lay in invention and know-how, as applied in war, transportation, generation of power, and skill in metal- work. Even such now banal inventions as eyeglasses and the clock were, in their day, powerful levers that tipped the balance of world economic power. Today's new economic winners are following much the same roads to power, while the laggards have somehow failed to duplicate this crucial formula for success. The key to relieving much of the world's poverty lies in understanding the lessons history has to teach us—lessons uniquely imparted in this towering work of history. DAVID S. LANDKS is professor emeritus of history and economics at Harvard University and the author of Revolution in Time and Prometheus Unbound. JACKET DESIGN BY PAUL SMITH FRONT JACKET ENGRAVING © CORBIS BETTMANN BACK JACKET PAINTING © NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, WASHINGTON, D.C. / ART RESOURCE, NEW YORK AUTHOR PHOTOGRAPH BY JANE REED, HARVARD NEWS OFFICE "Truly wonderful. No question that this will establish David Landes as preeminent in his field and in his time." —John Kenneth Galbraith "David Landes has written a masterly survey of the great successes and failures among the world's historic economies. He does it with verve, broad vision, and a whole series of sharp opinions that he is not shy about stating plainly. Anyone who thinks that a society's eco- nomic success is independent of its moral and cultural imperatives obviously has another think coming." —Robert Solow "David Landes's new historical study of the emergence of the current distribution of wealth and poverty among the nations of the world is a picture of enormous sweep and brilliant insight. The sense of historical contingency does not detract from the emergence of repeated themes in the encounters which led to European economic leadership. The incred- ible wealth of learning is embodied in a light and vigorous prose which carries the reader along irresistibly." —Kenneth Arrow THE WEALTH AND POVERTY OF NATIONS Also by DAVID S. LANDES BANKERS AND PASHAS THE UNBOUND PROMETHEUS REVOLUTION IN TIME The Wealth and Poverty of Nations Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor DAVID S. LANDES WWNORTON& COMPANY New York London Copyright © 1998 by David S. Landes All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First Edition For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110. The text of this book is composed in Galliard with the display set in Modern MT Extended Composition and manufacturing by the Haddon Craftsmen, Inc. Book design by lacques Chazaud Cartography by lacques Chazaud Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Landes, David S. The wealth and poverty of nations : why some are so rich and some so poor / by David S. Landes, p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-393-04017-8 1. Wealth—Europe—History. 2. Poverty—Europe—History. 3. Regional economic disparities—History. 4. Economic history. I. Title. HC240.Z9W45 1998 330.1 6—dc21 97-27508 CIP W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. 10110 http ://www. wwnor ton .com W. W. Norton & Company Ltd., 10 Coptic Street, London WC1A 1PU 12 34567890 For my children and grandchildren, with love. [...]... partiy because they die early They try to ensure a secure old age, if old age there be, by having lots of children who will grow up with a proper sense of fil ial obligation The old division o f the world into two power blocs, East and West, has subsided Now the big challenge and threat is the gap in wealth and health that separates rich and poor These are often styled North and South, because the division... with the lands o f the peoples of color toward or at the bottom o f the heap Yet in saying these things, Huntington was simply echoing the tra dition of moral geography Philosophers easily linked environment with temperament (hence the long-standing contrast between cold and hot, between sober thoughtfulness on the one hand, ebullient pleasure seeking on the other); while the infant discipline of anthropology... well as theirs, is to help the poor become healthier and wealthier I f we do not, they will seek to take what they cannot make; and if they cannot earn by exporting commodities, they will export people In short, wealth is an irresistible magnet; and poverty is a potentially rag ing contaminant: it cannot be segregated, and our peace and prosper ity depend in the long run on the well-being o f others... points of particular interest to the participants, with gains to my understanding of both the larger theme and its special aspects Given the multiplicity of these meetings plus a large number of personal conversations and consultations, it is not easy to pull together a comprehensive list of those who have helped me on these and other occasions My teachers first, whose lessons and example have stayed with... held responsible for the results, much as the weather forecaster is held responsible for the failure o f the sun to appear when one wishes to g o to the beach." Yet we are not the wiser for denial On a map of the world in terms of product or income per head, the rich countries lie in the temperate zones, particularly in the northern hemisphere; the poor countries, in the tropics and semitropics As John... without serious objection These repudiations have no parallel in the history of American higher education and undoubtedly reflect the intellectual weaknesses of the field: the lack of a theoretical basis, the all-embracing opportunism (more euphemistically, the catholic openness), the special "easiness" of human geography But behind those criticisms lay a dissatisfaction with some of the results Geography... vein, the larvae grow into small worms and mate The females lay thousands of thorned eggs—thorned to prevent the host from dislodging them These make their way to liver or intestines, tearing tissues as they g o The effect on organs may be imagined: they waste the liver, cause intestinal bleeding, produce carcinogenic lesions, interfere with digestion and elimination The victim comes down with chills and. .. geographic; but a more accurate signi fier would be the West and the Rest, because the division is also his toric Here is the greatest single problem and danger facing the world of the Third Millennium The only other worry that comes close is environmental deterioration, and the two are intimately connected, indeed are one They are one because wealth entails not only con sumption but also waste,... E WEALTH AND POVERTY OF NATIONS about the weakening o f geographical constraints today in an age of tropical medicine and high technology, they have not vanished and were clearly more powerful earlier The world has never been a level playing field, and everything costs We begin with the simple, direct effects of environment and go on to the more complex, more mediated links Climate first The world... first The world shows a wide range of temperatures and temperature patterns, reflecting location, altitude, and the declination of the sun These differences directly affect the rhythm of activity of all species: in cold, northern winters, some animals simply curl up and hi bernate; in hot, shadeless deserts, lizards and serpents seek the cool under rocks or under the earth itself (That is why so many . WEALTH AND POVERTY OF NATIONS Also by DAVID S. LANDES BANKERS AND PASHAS THE UNBOUND PROMETHEUS REVOLUTION IN TIME The Wealth and Poverty of Nations Why Some Are So Rich and Some . Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Landes, David S. The wealth and poverty of nations : why some are so rich and some so poor / by David S. Landes, p. cm. Includes bibliographical. of others—col- leagues, friends, students, journalists, witnesses to history, dead and alive. My first debt is to students and colleagues in courses at Columbia University, the University