Just to begin with, it is important to acknowledge the fact that the economic development when studied along with the history of the economic growth can provide a more analytical and comprehensive understanding of the development process. In his book, the “Wealth and Poverty of the Nations”. Landes peruses the history of the world economies in order to analyze the causes in the disparities in the wealth of the nations. In his book, Landes examines the problem of whether or not there is convergence of income disparities among different economies in the world have been critically and comprehensively examined in theoretical and empirical studies. This paper therefore aims at providing a comprehensive and critical review of the book. The paper shall provide a coherent argument about the land’s arguments about the western world, whether the major claim the author of the book presented concerning the position of china can still be maintained and how the author of this paper could have addressed the global situation of 2012 if he/she was to re-write this book today. The above mentioned are the pertinent and critical issues which this paper will tend to answer.
It is prudent to note that the Lande’s book examines the history o the economic growth for different countries over the past 2000 years. While providing this history, he majorly relies on the accumulated results of quantitative economic history and the economic growth theory. This makes his book regarded as a complement to theoretical studies of the economic growth.
In his book, Landes provides a mutual relationship existing between the level of technology and the society in order to analyze some of the examples of countries which failed at the economic development? The main source of economic development of different countries has been related to their level of technology or the technological advancement. According to Landes, most of the societies which succeeded in development are those which were capable of moving towards the routinization of improving technology. The notion of the level of economic growth and development exhibited by such nations is attributed to the level of technology exhibited by such countries.
According to Landes, the reason why the western nations are far ahead in terms of development is the fact that their level of technology is much higher. I strongly agree with him. This is because technology is the driving force for development. This implies that the level of development in any given country solely depends on the technological advancement of that country.
Landes presents the historical conditions of Europe’s industrial revolution as twofold questions. The first question here which the author presents is how the country could break from the traditional customary methods of production to new production methods. The second question which the author highlight to defend his stand that technology is the driving factor behind development is that why it was Britain and not any other country that could break from the traditional was of production to the new methods of production. In attempt to answer the above stated questions, Landes tends to provide many answers pertaining to the above stated questions. He first attributed the shift or move from the old methods of production to new methods of production to the recognition of the autonomy of intellectual inquiry by the government of Britain at that time. According to Landes, Europe had established methods for combining the perception of measurement, mathematized deduction and verification methodology. This lead to increased research in different areas of development thereby contributing immensely to the swift shift from the old production methods to new production methods.
In chapter 15 of his book, Landes provides a number of factors which that contributed to Britain’s industrial revolution. Landes provides the following social conditions to having provided suitable environmental conditions for the economic growth development: managing, operating and building production facilities which facilitate nurturing and mastering techniques on the frontiers of technology.
Other conditions which Landes believe that contributed to the economic growth and development of Europe include selecting and promoting personnel on the basis of performance, transferring the understanding of production to the younger generations and allowing people to enjoy the fruits of their labour among others.
However, according to Landes, for any given country to create the above mentioned conditions which are necessary for development, then the society has to consider the following: secure the rights of the private properties in order to encourage saving and investment, maintain the political stability, have a government that is responsive to the public grievances and also to have an efficient and effective government. (Landes 217). The mentioned conditions are prudent for any given society to establish an environment that encourages economic growth and development.
Another important factor which made Britain to quickly change from the traditional methods of production to new methods of production is the fact that Britain was very quick to form itself into a nation state a factor which Landes strongly believe that contributed to fostering the conditions necessary for development. Lands also believes that the nation state helped in bringing together harmonising the benefits derived from an individual with those derived from the society.
I therefore fully agree with the Landes argument concerning the western nations. It is true that the western nations particularly Britain was able to develop much more faster because the condition set were conducive for the economic development. Actually it is prudent to note that economic development cannot be achieved in a plane environment. Certain conditions must exist in order for the economic growth and development to be realised. I therefore agree with the perception of Landes that Europe must have been able to move from old methods of production to new much earlier because they set the conducive environment which was necessary for economic growth and development.
In the context o china, Landes postulates that at the time the west was struggling to create the conditions necessary for economic growth and development, China was too conservative, turned inward and for the above all, lacked the competitive culture that the west had. These characteristics according to Landes hindered the economic development of the republic of china. Lands strongly believe that China did not provide the social and political conditions which could spur economic development and growth just like their counterpart (the west) did. He therefore attributes the slow economic development of china during that time to their failure to put in place conducive environment and the necessary conditions which were vital to economic growth and development.
However, today, China cannot be placed in the same position in which it was placed by Landes. This is because currently china is one of the developed economies in the world second to the United States of America. It is therefore wrong to place China at the same position in which it was placed by Landes. I would therefore like to state that China has made tremendous improvement in terms of economic development and growth compared to the time of industrial revolution in Europe.
If I were to re-write the book, I would address the global situation of the year 2012 differently compared to how it was described by Landes at the time he was authoring this book. This is because the global economic development witnessed in the year 2012 is very different and of higher calibre compared to the global economic situation experienced at the time Landes was authoring this book. I would therefore address the economic situation of 2012 as having improved tremendously across the globe.
In conclusion, important to acknowledge the fact that the economic development when studied along with the history of the economic growth, can provide a more analytical and comprehensive understanding of the development process. In his book, the “Wealth and Poverty of the Nations”. Landes peruses the history of the world economies in order to analyze the causes in the disparities in the wealth of the nations. He further examines the problem of whether or not there is convergence of income disparities among different economies in the world have been critically and comprehensively examined in theoretical and empirical studies. Landes present the west as being economically different at the time he is authoring his text. For instance, he believes that the west succeeded in achieving a higher economic growth earlier compared to the other nations such as China due to totality of its past experiences. He believes that the west was able to set its political, religious, social, technological, geographical and the economic aspects more conducive for economic development and that was why they developed at a much faster rate.
Work Cited
David S. Landes,.” The wealth and poverty of nations: why some are so rich and some so poor. New York: Norton and. 1998.
Revell, Jack, Graham C. Hockley, and John Moyle. “The wealth of the nation: the national balance sheet of the United Kingdom, 1957-1961.” Cambridge: Cambridge U.P., 1967. Print.
Smith, Adam, and Edwin Cannan. “The wealth of nations”. New York: Modern Library, 2000. Print.
