Making of the Modern World Week 7, Lecture 2 Tutor: Giorgio Riello

1. Making of the Modern World Week 7, Lecture 2 Tutor: Giorgio Riello Lecture 2. Inequality and the Modern World: Capitalism, Poverty and Convergence

2. Yesterday’s lecture • The world is unequal • Different definitions of inequality • We focused on economic inequality • Has the world become more unequal over time? • Yes • Why? • Because the West has diverged economically? • Why? • Debates

3. 3. Eurocentric Globalists • David Landes, The Wealth and Poverty • of Nations (1998) • Landes emphasises the fact that before 1500 other parts of the world apart from Europe had wealth and knowledge far more advanced than Europe. Accused on ‘Eurocentrism’ and ‘triumphalism of Europe’ on an even wide global context

4. 4. New Interpretations: Divergence • World as a whole as the unit of analysis: “global history” 2. Stress the accidents, conjunctures and contingencies in the story

5. 4. New Interpretations: Divergence Andre Gunder Frank, ReOrient: Global Economy in the Asian Age (1998) He underlines: • The dominance of Asia • The the shift to Europe is only temporary Is he ‘Sinocentric’?

6. 5. The Great Divergence Kenneth Pomeranz, The Great Divergence (2000) introduces the new concepts of ‘Divergence’, Pomeranz compares Western Europe and China from the 16th to the 19th century and he claims that Europe industrialised and modernised because of two factors missing in China: - Coal, and • Colonies These allowed Western Europe to diverge from a common Eurasian path of development in which per capita output had been relatively stable for centuries. Importance of accidents and conjunctures

7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nhlj_y_pChk

8. 5. The Great Divergence • Pomeranz is criticised by PrasannanParthasarathi, ‘Review Article: The Great Divergence’, Past and Present, 176 (2002), pp. 275-293. • What is the role of technologies and technological innovation? • What is the role of trade? • There was a lot of coal in China

9. 5. The Great Divergence Two excellent textbooks: Robert B. Marks, The Origins of the Modern World: A Global and Ecological Narrative (2002). Jack Goldstone, Why Europe? The Rise of the West in World History, 1500-1850 (2008) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrRNVIUUd2w

10. 5. The Great Divergence • Other historians • PrasannanParthasarathi, Why Europe Grew Rich and Asia did Not? (2010) Robert Allen, The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective (2009).

11. 5. The Great Divergence (Why some are rich and some are poor) • This debate (esp. Pomeranz’s book) gave rise to a discussion among historians; • Historians (mildly) disagree on the evidence; • And they disagree (a lot) on the explanation of Divergence • They especially disagree on the role played by Europe (though one can see a move from ‘European exceptionalism’ to ‘contingency’) contingency)

12. 5. Popular Accounts of Divergence Ian Morris, Why the West Rules - For Now (New York, 2010). Niall Ferguson, Civilization: The Six Killer Apps of Western Power (London, 2011).

13. 6. Niall Ferguson’s Civilization • Key concept: civilization • “There are those who [claim] that all civilizations are in some sense equal, and that the West cannot claim superiority over, say, the East of Eurasia. But such relativism is demonstrably absurd. No previous civilization had ever achieved such dominance as the West achieved over the Rest”. • Six Killer apps (Competition; Science; Property rights; Medicine; the Consumer Society; and The work ethic) • http://www.ted.com/talks/niall_ferguson_the_6_killer_apps_of_prosperity/transcript?language=en • The Rest?

14. 8. Conclusion • Divergence as one example of how to discuss inequality • This is a topic with very different interpretations • And a topic that has also public discussion and relevance • Now there is a shift to interpret not growth but poverty and inequality within and between nations • view.

15. 1. Inequality Thomas Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century (London, 2014). • International – across nations • Concentration of wealth within nations • Large database • Wealth – not income

16. Branko Milanovic, Global Inequality: A New Approach for the Age of Globalisation (Cambridge MA, 2016) Anthony Atkinson, Inequality: What can be done? (Cambridge MA, 2015) • review of Thomas Piketty in the NY Review of Books: A Practical Vision of a More Equal Society. • interview with Paul Krugman and Robert Solow in which the two are discussing Atkinson’s book.

17. Inequality within nations

19. Inequality within nations: regional disparities

20. Inequality: the case of Britain

21. Inequality: the case of the US

22. Inequality: the case of London

23. Poverty in London Charles Booth (1840-1916) https://booth.lse.ac.uk/

25. Inequality between nations: A Global Problem

26. World Life Expectancy Map http://www.theglobaleducationproject.org/earth/human-conditions.php

29. The industrialisation of Asia (China and India)

30. Was this an achievement contingent upon a prior superiority in economy, mind or culture, or was it mere accident? ‘why did Europe industrialise and grow rich and Asia did not? And this question indirectly asks ‘why is Asia industrialising now?’ de-Europeanise of de-Anglicise the IR

31. Conclusion • Inequality within nations increased over time and today is decreasing thanks to the rise of China and India. • However poverty remains widespread in certain parts of the world. • Divergence maps the trajectory of richness of one part of the world (the West) but why this part of the word became rich is not a matter of agreement. • Others worry about inequality within nations (1%, 10%) and at regional level. • Inequality and poverty have been widely studied over the past 100 years. Governments have been asked to intervene.