World Economy- a Millenial Perspective

[welsh]

This is kind of for historical junkies and those interested in historical sociology-

Came across this in the library today and thought it was worth checking out-

Some interesting details about world economic history for the past 1000 years.

Angus Maddison, The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective (Paris: OECD, 2001), Chapter 1, "Introduction and Summary," pp. 17-25

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/ipe/oecd1.htm

Per capita income growth is not the only indicator of welfare. Over the long run, there has been a dramatic increase in life expectation. In the year 1000, the average infant could expect to live about 24 years. A third would die in the first year of life, hunger and epidemic disease would ravage the survivors. There was an almost imperceptible rise up to 1820, mainly in Western Europe. Most of the improvement has occurred since then. Now the average infant can expect to survive 66 years.

Explaining Economic Performance
Advances in population and income over the past millennium have been sustained by three interactive processes:
a) Conquest or settlement of relatively empty areas which had fertile land, new biological resources, or a potential to accommodate transfers of population, crops and livestock;
b) international trade and capital movements;
c) technological and institutional innovation.

edit - some sample data can be found-
http://www.theworldeconomy.org/#2

For more check out the intro, or the entire book. It’s available for sale.