Very Generative of New Thinking in Economic History

books:


	• A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World (Princeton Economic History of the Western World) Gregory Clark Princeton University Press, 2007 - 440 pages average customer review:based on 36 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

An Inconvenient Truth

Gregory Clark has presented here a very detailed analysis of why and how the Global rate of economic whealth creation has skyrocketed with the industiral revolution after many millenia of stagnation. More interestingly, he focuses why this breakthrough first took place in the England of 1800s. Even more controversial is his conclusions on why the same productivity increases have not taken place in many other parts of the world thus causing the widening gap between the haves and have nots.

His arguments are presented very clearly and there is much data, maybe too much, that he presents very cleverly in support of his theories. Countless graphs and charts give the book a texbook feel, in addition to a high level of credibility.

The final conclusion, that there may be "culturual" roots to labor inefficiency obviously has caused much discomfort and even anger judging from some of the reviews. As hard as this may be to digest for many of us, we need to keep morality out of a pure technical discussion. One should also be aware that given any body of data, it may be possible to present it in a way to support almost any position and conclusion or argue against it. Clark seems to have tried hard though to stick to the facts.

This would not satisfy many who see many historical reasons, such as colonialism that is at the root of many of the economic injustices and inequalities of today.

Regardless, for a layperson, this book is very educational and revealing. One gets a good idea of the modern tools and analytic methods employed in cutting edge economic research. Over last decade or so this branch of study has clearly become much more scientific and rigorous.

As a side note, for some reason he has not included the whealth of data available from Middle East on this topic. He should have also noted that while plague was decimating populations in Europe in Middle Ages, many of the Middle Eastern countries very rarely sufferd this terrible fate. Islamic hygine kept many such diseases at bay. He neglects the cultural aspect of the economic subsistence level. Societies where social bonds are stronger and culture of support for the weak is the norm, the subsistence level can be much lower.

It is not easy reading as Clark throws a lot at the reader. Some of the quantitiative details should have been removed to the appendices to keep the flow of logic and analysis a bit clearer. The book is full of interesting facts and details. I enjoyed it much and found it to be very thought provoking.

for more information click here

excellent

When I finshed this book and read it again to make sure I had absorbed all the information in it. It is excellent.

for more information click here

Economic history in a nutshell

Gregory Clark's A Farewell to Alms is the most informative book about economic history that I know. On about 380 pages and with nearly 200 illustrations, Clark describes the dynamics of the Malthusian economy that prevailed worldwide up to the time of the industrial revolution, and the industrial revolution itself. It is smoothly written, focuses on the important issues in economic history, and is immensely informative. This combination makes it suitable both for the historically interested non-specialist and the expert. Above all, I recommend it as a textbook for undergraduate courses in economics and history.
However, the author goes beyond the traditional stock-in-trade of the field. He emphasizes that the industrial revolution in England was preceded by behavioral changes whose consequences he sees manifested in declining homicide rates and declining interest rates, both indicative of a population that became less impulsive and more focused on long-term goals than had been the case in earlier times. He might as well have added the unprecedented proliferation of ideas and innovations in the arts, sciences and philosophy that characterized Europe throughout the centuries from the Italian Renaissance to the French Enlightenment. This trend shows rising intellectual sophistication not only in England, but in most or all parts of Europe.
In particular, he shows that in preindustrial England there was differential reproduction on a massive scale: Generation after generation, rich men had nearly twice as many surrviving children as poor men. This meant not only downward social mobility, which was certainly deplorable. It also implied that both the cultural values and the genes of economically successful people penetrated throughout the society. Today's Europeans are, by and large, descended from the upper social classes in medieval and early modern times. Clark is one of the first economic historians to realize the importance of Darwinian mechanisms in cultural and economic advance, even on a time scale of only some hundreds of years.
I recommend this book for its clarity, the wealth of data that the author uses to illustrate the points he is making, and especially the focus on the important issues: How did the Malthusian economy work? What were the determinants of fertility, mortality and wealth during pre-industrial times? Why was pre-industrial Europe more prosperous than pre-industrial China and India? What trigered the industrial revolution in England? When did efficiency gains outpace population growth? Why did large wealth differentials between countries develop since the mid-19th century?

for more information click here

Very Generative of New Thinking in Economic History

The value of this book is enormous and is reflected well in the large number of high quality reviews posted. Above all else the value of the book is that it makes you look at data both new and familiar in radically different ways. I admire a book that sets out right at the beginning its intent to provoke new research, counter argument and hope to move our knowledge without arrogantly asserting that it has found the Holy Grail of explanation. I was not entirely convinced by his thesis that differential survival rates deployed middle class values downward; but it is very challenging and intriguing. I was even less convinced by this application of this to current developing countries, but as part of an explanation I could see many of his insight contributing to understanding if not taken in isolation. So I strongly recommend this book as a primer in new data and new approaches and I think that the author really wants us to think deeply about what he is saying and improve on it, refine it, refute it and this is a welcome change. I hope the University of California Davis increases his salary as per his humorous footnote on economists being overpaid everywhere but Davis.

for more information click here

reviews: 1, page 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

hot

not?

What's your opinion?

Write a review and share your thoughts!

recommendations

Down with Thomas Friedman: A serious look at globalization
Conquistador - History/Biography
more recently read books
Think about Economics
Economic Development

search for books
farewell to alms, brief, economic, farewell, history, princeton, western, world

Impressum / about us