Contents

 

PREFACE

1

Introduction to Real World History vs. Eurocentric Social Theory

Holistic Methodology and Objectives

Globalism, not Eurocentrism

Smith, Marx, and Weber
Contemporary Eurocentrism and Its Critics
Economic Historians
Limitations of Recent Social Theory

Outline of a Global Economic Perspective

Anticipating and Confronting Resistance and Obstacles

2

The Global Trade Carousel

An Introduction to the World Economy

Thirteenth- and Fourteenth-Century Antecedents
The Columbian Exchange and Its Consequences
Some Neglected Features in the World Economy

World Division of Labor and Balances of Trade

Mapping the Global Economy
The Americas
Africa
Europe
West Asia

The Ottomans
Safavid Persia

India and the Indian Ocean

North India
Gujarat and Malabar
Coromandel
Bengal

Southeast Asia

Archipellago and Islands
Mainland

Japan
China

Population, Production, and Trade
China in the World Economy in

Central Asia
Russia and the Baltics
Summary of a Sinocentric World Economy

3

Money Went Around the World and Made the World Go Round

World Money: Its Production and Exchange

Micro- and Macro-Attractions in the Global Casino
Dealing and Playing in the Global Casino
The Numbers Game

  Silver
  Gold
  Credit

How Did the Winners Use Their Money

The Hoarding Thesis

Inflation or Production in the Quantity Theory of Money
Money Expanded the Frontiers of Settlement and Production

  In India

  In China
  Elsewhere in Asia?

4

The Global Economy: Comparisons and Relations

Quantities: Population, Production, Productivity, Income, and Trade

Population, Production, and Income
Productivity and Competitiveness
World Trade 1400-1600

Qualities: Science and Technology

Eurocentrism Regarding Science and Technology in Asia

  Guns
  Ships
  Printing
  Textiles
  Metallurgy, Coal, and Power
  Transport

World Technological Development

Mechanisms: Economic and Financial Institutions

Comparing and Relating Asian and European Institutions
Global Institutional Relations

  In India
  In China

5

Horizontally Integrative Macrohistory

Simultaneity Is No Coincidence

Doing Horizontally Integrative Macrohistory

Demographic/Structural Analysis
A “Seventeenth-Century Crisis”?
The 1640 Silver Crises
Kondratieff Analysis
The 1762-1790 Kondratieff “B” Phase: Crisis and Recessions
A More Horizontally Integrative Macrohistory?

6

Why Did the West Win (Temporarily)

Is There a Long-Cycle Roller Coaster?

The Decline of the East Preceded the Rise of the West

The Decline in India
The Decline Elsewhere in Asia

How Did the West Rise?

Climbing Up on Asian Shoulders        
Supply and Demand for Technological Change       
Supplies and Sources of Capital

A Global Economic Demographic Explanation

A Demographic Economic Model
A High-Level Equilibrium Trap?
The Evidence: 1500-1750
The 1750 Inflection
Challenging and Reformulating the Explanation
The Resulting Transformations in India, China, Europe, and the World

   In India
   In China
   In Western Europe
   The Rest of the World

Past Conclusions and Future Implications

7

Historiographic Conclusions and Theoretical Implications

Historiographic Conclusions: The Eurocentric
Emperor Has No Clothes

The Asiatic Mode of Production
European Exceptionalism
A European World-System or a Global Economy?
1500: Continuity or Break?
Capitalism?
Hegemony?
The Rise of the West and the Industrial Revolution
Empty Categories and Procrustean Beds

Theoretical Implications: Through the Global Looking Glass

Holism vs. Partialism
Commonality/Similarity vs. Specificity/Differenees
Continuity vs. Discontinuities
Horizontal Integration vs. Vertical Separation
Cycles vs. Linearity?
Agency vs. Structure
Europe in the World Economic Nutshell
Jihad vs. McWorld in the Anarchy of the Clash of Civilizations?

REFERENCES

INDEX