1.What best explains the “Rise of the West” that is, the economic, political and military ascendancy of Western Europe and its offshoots (United States etc) in the world economy after 1800? Discuss.
2. “The Industrial Revolution that began around 1800 has been the biggest and fastest transformation of production in the entire history of the world.” Discuss.
3.“The roots of both modern global economic prosperity and poverty (the so-called Great Divergence) are in the Industrial Revolution that began in the late 18th century.” Discuss.
4.“The rise of the industrial economies based on technological progress and the Industrial Revolution since 1800 is the central event of modern history. Nothing else even comes close. This has affected the world in this period more than all other social and political changes taken together.” Discuss.
5.Have the economic and social effects of the Industrial Revolution in global economic history since 1800, on balance, and in your view, either harmed or benefitted the world, or both? Explain.
6.“The United States and Germany overtaking them in industrialization and prosperity by 1914, and more recently Japan, is not something that the British could have done anything about”. Discuss.
7.Describe the role and rationale for national economic planning, and critically discuss the reasons for the successes and failures of such planning in your choice of selected nations since 1800.
8.Critically discuss some of the major successes and failures of economic progress around the world that have occurred since 1800.
9. Why did the Industrial Revolution first happen in Western Europe, relative to anywhere else in the world? Discuss.
10.“An accurate reading of history would show that India and China’s natural roles are as global economic superpowers.” Discuss.
11. “Imperialism and colonialism played a role in the de-industrialization of the many parts of the world economy after 1800 but larger roles were played by competitive disadvantage and falling transportation costs.” Discuss in the context of your choice of regions or nations in the world since 1800.
12. “Had the United States treated 70% of its population as it treated its African Americans for most if its history, the result would have been national failure, for it could never have become an economic powerhouse with such limited provision of education.” Discuss in relation to United States versus South American development since 1800.
13.The one glaring exception to the social, economic, political and technological achievements of the past two centuries, and the egalitarian ethic of equality and income redistribution, is the international distribution of income.” Discuss.
14. “What does Robert Allen characterize as the “standard development strategy” in relation to developing a modern industrial economy in the global economy of the post-1800 world? Discuss in relation to the successes and/or failures of its implementation or lack of implementation in any 2 of: the United States, Germany, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, China, Russia, India, South America, or the Middle East/Ottoman Empire.
15.“In the last 100 years material prosperity has increased more than in all of the rest of the thousands of years of human history. In the next 100 years, economic growth will raise the living standards of more people in more parts of the world than at any prior time in history.” Discuss.
16. “Technology and industrialization since 1800 has brought unprecedented prosperity to the world but also unprecedented misery.” Discuss.
17. “The extreme variation in material wellbeing in the world economy is the biggest economic problem of our age.” How does the history of the World economy since 1800 help explain this extreme variation, and can it, in your view, be substantially overcome in your lifetime? If not, why not, and if so, how?
18.“The profound imbalance in the global production and use of technology and knowledge has been since 1800 and remains today probably the most powerful engine of divergence in global well-being between rich and poor nations.” Discuss.
19.Robert Allen states: “If China and India catch up with the West, the world will have come full circle.” Discuss.
20.Why did the United States economy after 1800 grow so much more rapidly than the Mexican, Brazilian or other Central and South American economies?” Discuss.
21.“Once the Industrial Revolution began, it swallowed the world.” Discuss.
22. Why did the United States economy after 1800 grow so much more rapidly than the Mexican, Brazilian or other Central and South American economies?” Discuss.
23.““Africa has contributed massively to the economic prosperity of the rest of the world but ironically remains itself still poor and subject to violent ethnic and nationalist conflict both within and between its many states.” Discuss, in your view, how and why.