Due in 6 hours
6dashen9
Lect17f17ChinaPomeranz.pptxLect17 China Pomeranz
f17
China and Europe
I have been presenting Eurocentric views of the Rise of the West
One version stresses institutions: property rights, political pluralism, markets
Another version stresses Culture and Science: Scientific Revolution, Enlightenment (Landes)
Now let’s present the California School of Pomeranz and others (see Marks, pp. 104-18)
The Great Divergence
Pomeranz book, 2000. He argues that China had a well-functioning market economy in the 18th century; there was no political pluralism but there were “good enough” property rights for business to invest and to develop a sophisticated financial sector; there was a market economy with household and regional specialization
The Great Divergence
Pomeranz says the level of economic development and the standard of living were very similar in China and Europe in 1750
One should compare the advanced parts of Europe (Britain) with the advanced parts of China (Jiangnan)
The important difference lay in the availability of resources: land and coal
The Great Divergence
China remained bound by the old biological regime, with its limited amounts of energy
Britain and Europe had access to “ghost acres”, land not fully developed, in eastern Europe and especially in the New World
England also had conveniently located deposits of coal
The Great Divergence
England was driven to experiment with ways of using coal to smelt iron, because forests were being depleted and charcoal was becoming very expensive
England did learn to use coal during the 18th century; cheap iron was a major part of the Industrial Revolution
The Great Divergence
England was able to draw labor into factories because it could import food and raw materials
China had to produce its own food and raw materials
The Great Divergence
Steam engine used coal to provide power; a new source of energy that became much greater than in the old biological regime
England was led to develop a practical steam engine because it faced the problem of pumping water out of coal mines; the first engines were so inefficient that they were viable only where coal was costless: at the bottom of a mine!
The Great Divergence
The Industrial Revolution could not have occurred in China because of lack of land and other natural resources and the lack of convenient deposits of coal
China had a functioning market economy; markets don’t explain the Divergence; the other European institutions were not necessary either
Great Divergence
Why didn’t China colonize other lands? Europeans conquered other lands and turned them into suppliers of raw materials and markets for industrial goods
China did expand into central Asia, but the new provinces learned to produce craft goods for themselves (import substitution); hence limited supply of raw materials and limited market for craft goods from core areas
Great Divergence
Pomeranz article, “Without Coal…” presents his views in some detail; Pomeranz does acknowledge Chinese institutional weakness in certain areas
See especially his discussion of Chinese science, pp 256-63
11
Great Divergence
Pomeranz also presents a “different counterfactual”, pp. 263-65
Suppose a less vigorous Industrial Revolution in Europe (because of resource constraints)
Suppose Europeans had sold cotton to China instead of insisting on opium
Breakthrough in Yangzi Delta?
