Economia

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Introduction: Economic H istory and
Economic Development
W h y are s ome n ations r ich a nd others poor? This seemingly simple question is d i rected at the heart o f one o f the world's most pressing contemporary problems, that
o f u neven economic development. O nly w ar and peace, p opulation p ressure, a nd environmental s alubrity—and thus the s urvival o f the human r ace—are issueso f s imilar m agnitude. Because o f unequal economic development, revolutions and coups
d 'état h ave occurred; totalitarian governments and m ilitary d ictatorships have deprived w hole nations o f p olitical l iberty, a nd many i ndividuáis o f their personal freedom a nd even their l ives. M i l l i o n s have died miserably and unnecessarily o f starvation, m alnutrition, a nd d isease—notbecause f ood a nd other r esources w ere
u navailable, b ut because t hey c ould n ot be delivered to those i n need. The U nited
States a nd severa! o ther wealthy nations have expended b ü l i o n s o f dollars in w ell-intentioned a ttempts to assist t heir less f ortúnate n eighbors. In spite o f these v aried efforts, the income gap between the r elativcly s mall number o f affiuent nationsand the
v ast m ajority o f impoverished ones n ot o nly persists but grows wider year by year.
T he situation appears t o be paradoxical. I f s ome n ations are r ich a nd others poor,
w hy d o not the poor ones a dopt the methods and p o ü c i e s t hat have made the others
r ich? I n fact, such attempts have been made but, in most instances, w ithout s trilcing
success. T he probiem isfar more complicated than it appears o n the surface. In the
f irst p lace, there is no general agreement on which m ethods were responsible for the
h igher i ncomes o f the wealthy nations. Second, even i f such agreement existed, it is
b y n o means c ertain that s imilar m ethods and policies w ould p roduce the same r esults
i n t he different geographical, c ultural, a nd h istórica! circumstances o f today's l o w - i n come nations. F inally, a lthough much research has been devoted to the probiem,
s cholars and scientists have not yet produced a theory o f economic development that
i s o perationally useful and generally applicable.
T here are various a pproaches t o the study o f economic development—fortunately
n ot m utually exclusive. The historical approach employed inthis book does n ot aim
at producing a general, universally applicable theory o f economic development. I n stead, h istorical analysis can focus, as other a pproaches c annot, on the origins o f the
p resently existing unequal l evéis o f development. A correct diagnosis o f the origins
o f t he probiem does n ot, in i tself, g uarantee a n effective p rescription, b ut w ithout s uch
a diagnosis one can scarcely hope to remedy the probiem. Second, by focusing on i n -

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Introduction:

A CONCISE ECONOMIC HISTORY O F T H E W O R L D

stances o f g rowth a nd decline in the past, the historical approach isolates Ú\& fundamentáis o f economic development, undistracted by arguments over the efficacy or desirability o f particular policies for specific current problems. Inother words, it is an
a id t o o bjectivity a nd c larity o f thought.
P olicymakers and their staffs o f experts, faced w ith the responsibility o f proposing
and implementing policies for development, frequently shrug off the potential c ontributions o f h istorical a nalysis to the solution o f their problems w ith the observation that
the contemporary situation is unique and therefore historyis irrelevant to their concerns.
S uch an attitude contains a double f allacy. I n the first p lace, those w ho are ignorant o f
the past are not q ualified t o generaliza about i t. S econd, it i mplicitly denies the u niformity o f nature, i ncluding h uman behavior and the behavior o f social institutions—an
a ssumption on w hich a ll scientific i nquiry is founded. Such attitudes reveal...