Human Development and the Path to Freedom (New Approaches to Economic and Social History)

How has human development evolved during the last 150 years of globalization and economic growth? How has human development been distributed across countries? How do developing countries compare to developed countries? Do social systems matter for wellbeing? Are there differences in the performance of developing regions over time? Employing a capabilities approach, Human Development and the Path to Freedom addresses these key questions in the context of modern economic growth and globalization from c.1870 to the present. Leandro Prados de la Escosura shows that health, access to knowledge, standards of living, and civil and political freedom can substitute for GDP per head as more accurate measures of our wellbeing.

Leandro Prados de la Escosura is Emeritus Professor of Economic History at Carlos III University. He is the author of Spanish Economic Growth, 1850–2015 (2017). He is the editor of Exceptionalism and Industrialisation: Britain and its European Rivals, 1688–1815 (2004) and former editor of the journal Revista de Historia Económica.