How the World Became Rich: The Historical Origins of Economic Growth

How the World Became Rich: The Historical Origins of Economic Growth by Mark Koyama and Jared Rubin

This well-researched book attempts to explore what caused the world to become "rich". Today, health,  life expectancy, access to food and general material wealth are much greater than it has been in history. What has caused this? The authors look at many areas and cite the previous research. Often there are conflicts in the research, with some find a opposite results from the same cause. There are also cases, like resource abundance, that have caused short term prosperity, but led to decrease in long term wealth. Culture and institutions are found to be very important for prosperity. Often culture can be "sticky", with aspects of culture remaining even after the initial need was no longer present. Large scale death can provide Malthusian jolts, but long term growth requires a sustained surplus with appropriate institutions to keep it that way. The book does touch briefly on whether being "rich" is a good thing. However, the focus is on how the world became rich, not whether it is good or bad.