Abstract
The publication in 2000 of Kenneth Pomeranz’s The Great Divergence presented a seminal challenge to the prevailing, largely Eurocentric, view of the path taken by global economic development from the early-modern period onwards. Its argument that the conditions for economic growth in advanced regions of China and other parts of Asia were not significantly different from those of their counterparts in Europe on the eve of the Industrial Revolution stimulated a debate that has brought global history to life, while initiating a considerable reassessment of, in particular, Chinese economic history. However, it has yet to exert much influence over those who study the only country outside ‘the West’ that did achieve significant industrialisation before the Second World War, that is, Japan.
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Francks, P. (2016). Introduction. In: Japan and the Great Divergence. Palgrave Studies in Economic History. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57673-6_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57673-6_1
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