Growth and Interaction in the World Economy: The Roots of Modernity

This landmark work from economic historian Angus Maddison is a must-read exploration of 2,000 years of globalization, capitalism's origins, trade history, and world development, tackling hot-button questions about Western conquest, Asia's and Africa's stalled growth, and the true origins of the West's rise, as his groundbreaking data overturns the conventional wisdom that China led Europe until 1800 and reshapes how we understand the roots of modernity.

This monograph explores the causes of the West's economic growth over the last 2,000 years and contrasts it with the economic history of the rest of the world.

Angus Maddison is emeritus professor on the faculty of economics at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and the author of numerous works on long-term economic growth, most recently The World Economy: Historical Statistics (OECD, 2004).