A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World (Princeton Economic History of the Western World)

Why are some parts of the world so rich and others so poor? Why did the Industrial Revolution — and the unprecedented economic growth that came with it — occur in eighteenth-century England, and not at some other time, or in some other place? Why didn't industrialization make the whole world rich — and why did it make large parts of the world even poorer? In A Farewell to Alms, Gregory Clark tackles these profound questions and suggests a new and provocative way in which culture — not exploitation, geography, or resources — explains the wealth, and the poverty, of nations.

Countering the prevailing theory that the Industrial Revolution was sparked by the sudden development of stable political, legal, and economic institutions in seventeenth-century Europe, Clark shows that such institutions existed long before industrialization. He argues instead that these institutions gradually led to deep cultural changes by encouraging people to abandon hunter-gatherer instincts — violence, impatience, and economy of effort — and adopt economic habits-hard work, rationality, and education.

The problem, Clark says, is that only societies that have long histories of settlement and security seem to develop the cultural characteristics and effective workforces that enable economic growth. For the many societies that have not enjoyed long periods of stability, industrialization has not been a blessing. Clark also dissects the notion, championed by Jared Diamond in Guns, Germs, and Steel, that natural endowments such as geography account for differences in the wealth of nations.

A brilliant and sobering challenge to the idea that poor societies can be economically developed through outside intervention, A Farewell to Alms may change the way global economic history is understood.

"Clark's idea-rich book may just prove to be the next blockbuster in economics. He offers us a daring story of the economic foundations of good institutions and the climb out of recurring poverty. We may not have cracked the mystery of human progress, but A Farewell to Alms brings us closer than before." Tyler Cowen, New York Times

"As absorbing, as memorable and as well written as Mr. Diamond's remarkable bestseller. It deserves to be as widely read." Clive Crook, Financial Times

"... As absorbing, as memorable and as well written as Mr Diamond's remarkable bestseller. It deserves to be as widely read." Clive Crook, Financial Times

"It could well be the subject of debate for years to come." The Economist

"What caused the Industrial Revolution? Gregory Clark has a brilliant and fascinating explanation for this event which permanently changed the life of humankind after 100,000 years of stagnation." George Akerlof, Nobel Laureate in Economics and Koshland Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley

"This is a very important book. Gregory Clark argues that the Industrial Revolution was the gradual but inevitable result of a kind of natural selection during the harsh struggle for existence in the pre-industrial era, in which economically successful families were also more reproductively successful. They transmitted to their descendants, culturally and perhaps genetically, such productive attitudes as foresight, thrift, and devotion to hard work. This audacious thesis, which dismisses rival explanations in terms of prior ideological, technological, or institutional revolutions, will be debated by historians for many years to come." Paul Seabright, author of The Company of Strangers: A Natural History of Economic Life

"Challenging the prevailing wisdom that institutions explain why some societies become rich, Gregory Clark's A Farewell to Alms will appeal to a broad audience. I can think of nothing else like it." Philip T. Hoffman, author of Growth in a Traditional Society

"You may not always agree with Gregory Clark, but he will capture your attention, make you think, and make you reconsider. He is a provocative and imaginative scholar and a true original. As an economic historian, he engages with economists in general; as an economist, he is parsimonious with high-tech algebra and unnecessarily complex models. Occam would approve." Cormac Ó Gráda, author of Jewish Ireland in the Age of Joyce

"This should rapidly become a standard work on the history of economic development. It should start whole industries trying to test, refine, and refute its explanations. And Gregory Clark's views on the economic merits of imperialism and the fact that labor gained the most from industrialization will infuriate all the right people." Eric L. Jones, author of Cultures Merging and The European Miracle

"While many books on the Industrial Revolution tend to focus narrowly either on the event itself, or on one explanation for it, Gregory Clark does neither. He takes an extremely long-run view, covering significant periods before and after the Industrial Revolution, without getting bogged down in long or detailed exposition. This is an extremely important contribution to the subject." Clifford Bekar, Lewis and Clark College

"But Clark writes entertainingly, and much of the charm of the book lies in his eclectic data." Howard Davies, Times Higher Education Supplement

"Genetically Capitalist? ... A Farewell to Alms asks the right questions, and it is full of fascinating details.” Samuel Bowles, Science

"In an important new book, ...Clark suggests that much of the world's remaining poverty is semi-permanent." Robert J. Samuelson, The Washington Post

"But at root, its principles are simple. To understand them, we must understand the food supply." Roger Gathman, The Austin American Statesman

"Clark's argument hinges on extensive archival research on the wills of medieval Englishmen." Daniel Brook, The Nation

"What caused the Industrial Revolution? Gregory Clark has a brilliant and fascinating explanation for this event which permanently changed the life of humankind after 100,000 years of stagnation."--George Akerlof, Nobel Laureate in Economics and Koshland Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley

"This is a very important book. Gregory Clark argues that the Industrial Revolution was the gradual but inevitable result of a kind of natural selection during the harsh struggle for existence in the pre-industrial era, in which economically successful families were also more reproductively successful. They transmitted to their descendants, culturally and perhaps genetically, such productive attitudes as foresight, thrift, and devotion to hard work. This audacious thesis, which dismisses rival explanations in terms of prior ideological, technological, or institutional revolutions, will be debated by historians for many years to come."--Paul Seabright, author of The Company of Strangers: A Natural History of Economic Life

"Challenging the prevailing wisdom that institutions explain why some societies become rich, Gregory Clark's "A Farewell to Alms" will appeal to a broad audience. I can think of nothing else like it."--Philip T. Hoffman, author of Growth in a Traditional Society

"You may not always agree with Gregory Clark, but he will capture your attention, make you think, and make you reconsider. He is a provocative and imaginative scholar and a true original. As an economic historian, he engages with economists in general; as an economist, he is parsimonious with high-tech algebra and unnecessarily complex models. Occam would approve."--Cormac Grda, author of Jewish Ireland in the Age of Joyce

"This should rapidly become a standard work on the history of economic development. It should start whole industries trying to test, refine, and refute its explanations. And Gregory Clark's views on the economic merits of imperialism and the fact that labor gained the most from industrialization will infuriate all the right people."--Eric L. Jones, author of Cultures Merging and The European Miracle

"While many books on the Industrial Revolution tend to focus narrowly either on the event itself, or on one explanation for it, Gregory Clark does neither. He takes an extremely long-run view, covering significant periods before and after the Industrial Revolution, without getting bogged down in long or detailed exposition. This is an extremely important contribution to the subject."--Clifford Bekar, Lewis and Clark College

Gregory Clark is chair of the economics department at the University of California, Davis. He has written widely about economic history.

Preface ix

Acknowledgments xi

Chapter 1: Introduction: The Sixteen-Page Economic History of the World 1

PART I: The Malthusian Trap: Economic Life to 1800

Chapter 2: The Logic of the Malthusian Economy 19

Chapter 3: Living Standards 40

Chapter 4: Fertility 71

Chapter 5: Life Expectancy 91

Chapter 6: Malthus and Darwin: Survival of the Richest 112

Chapter 7: Technological Advance 133

Chapter 8: Institutions and Growth 145

Chapter 9: The Emergence of Modern Man 166

PART II: The Industrial Revolution

Chapter 10: Modern Growth: The Wealth of Nations 193

Chapter 11: The Puzzle of the Industrial Revolution 208

Chapter 12: The Industrial Revolution in England 230

Chapter 13: Why England? Why Not China, India, or Japan? 259

Chapter 14: Social Consequences 272

PART III: The Great Divergence

Chapter 15: World Growth since 1800 303

Chapter 16: The Proximate Sources of Divergence 328

Chapter 17: Why Isn't the Whole World Developed? 352

Chapter 18: Conclusion: Strange New World 371

Technical Appendix 379

References 383

Index 409

Figure Credits 419