World Economic Historical Statistics

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Here, for the first time, the economic statistics of the world are presented in a rationalized format that allows for an easy comparison across countries and through time. The author presents an organized set of statistics, and tests the principal theories on the causes of economic growth against the facts of history.

About the Book

Since the earliest of times, human beings have endeavored to uncover the causes of prosperity. History is the best tool that society possesses for identifying and analyzing the factors that contribute to economic growth; yet economic statistics that lend themselves to comparison are hard to come by. Even academics who specialize in individual countries almost never present a set of statistics covering the whole 20th century - and for the previous centuries, the data is even more chaotic.Here, economic statistics covering all parts of the world are segmented in parallel timeframes and presented in a format that enables realistic comparisons across countries and through time.Part One analyzes the most relevant ideas and theories that have been considered as causal variables of economic growth. It summarizes these ideas pedagogically and tests them against the historical data. The results of such analyses are highly troubling because they reveal an absence of correlation between theory and reality.Part Two presents a collection of statistics illustrating the development of the world economy during the last centuries. The data was extracted from economic, history and economic history books, from the publications of the World Bank, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, the United Nations' specialized agencies, research institutes and country statistical publications, and other books and journals.Analyzing the data over geography and time, Sabillon concludes that contrary to contemporary wisdom, left to market forces alone the economy will not and does not flourish. The factors that cause growth, he says, still need to be studied with a fresh eye. This orderly and consistent presentation of statistics may be just the tool that helps future economic theorists to identify a reliable path to sustained growth.This analysis of the long-term historical development of the nations of the world is the culmination of a four-year research project funded in part by the Swiss National Fund for Scientific Research, the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland, and by the Geneva Business Institute.This book has the potential to become the main reference book worldwide for historical economic statistics in universities and professional organizations.It presents the big picture of economic statistics in a format that is more useful than the World Bank's World Development Report (which is bought every year by most universities and libraries in the world), or The CIA Fact Book, The State of the World or the Human Development Report.In its historic approach the book has no competition, due to the dearth of efforts to statistically explain the economic history of the world (as a whole, by region, and by country); and it neatly debunks conventional ideas in mainstream economic theory.

Information

Here, for the first time, the economic statistics of the world are presented in a rationalized format that allows for an easy comparison across countries and through time. The author presents an organized set of statistics, and tests the principal theories on the causes of economic growth against the facts of history.