Humans are an environmental niche, and organisms arise through mutation to populate it. Novel microbes can cause epidemics in which the death rate is very high.
Category: facts of economic growth
Why Were the Americas so Underdeveloped when Europeans Reached Them?
Eurasia was able to produce food surpluses more than a thousand years before the Americas. Food surpluses led to specialization, which led to rapid development.
The Division of the World
W. Arthur Lewis explained why the world divided into manufacturers and primary producers, and into prosperous temperate countries and poor tropical countries.
More on the Division of the World
Long-distance trade grew rapidly during the nineteenth century. It led to a substantial widening of the gap between the per capita incomes of the West and the Third World.
One Hundred and Fifty Years of American Growth
American technological progress was rapid between 1920 and 1970, and slow after 1970. Why was it so rapid before 1970? Why was it so slow after 1970?
Why Nations Fail: Extractive and Inclusive Institutions
Acemoglu and Robinson argue that a country’s prosperity is determined by its political and economic institutions. Casual empiricism supports their argument.
The Chinese Economy after Mao
After the death of Mao, China introduced new economic policies that dramatically increased its rate of economic growth.
Merchants and Mechanics 