Introduction: a history of the global economy - the 'why' and the 'how' Joerg Baten; 1. North-Western Europe Jan Luiten van Zanden; Interlinking chapter 1. The great divergence in the world economy: long-run trends of real income Stephen Broadberry; Highlight article 1.1 International financial regulation and supervision Catherine Schenk; 2. Southern, Eastern and Central Europe Joerg Baten; Interlinking chapter 2. The Sputnik shock, the Pisa shock: human capital as a global growth determinant Joerg Baten; Highlight article 2.1 State finances during civil wars Pablo Martin Acena; Highlight article 2.2 Property rights in the Russian Empire Irina Potkina; 3. The United States and Canada Price Fishback; Interlinking chapter 3. The Great Depression of the 1930s and the world economic crisis after 2008 Kevin Hjortshøj O'Rourke; Highlight article 3.1 Multi-divisional firms and managerial capitalism Franco Amatori; Highlight article 3.2 Business history and innovation Knut Sogner; Highlight article 3.3 Alfred D. Chandler, Jr: the man behind modern business history Franco Amatori; 4. Latin America Luis Bértola and José Ocampo; Interlinking chapter 4. Was there a 'curse of natural resources'? Joerg Baten; Highlight article 4.1 Latin America, 1500-1800: early contact, epidemics and numeracy development Joerg Baten; Highlight article 4.2 The economic consequences of independence in Latin America Salomon Kalmanovitz; 5. Japan's long-run growth process in a Eurasian perspective Osamu Saito; Highlight article 5.1 Japanese industry during WWII Tetsuji Okazaki; 6. China Debin Ma; Highlight article 6.1 International expositions and East Asia's participation in the modern era Min Ma; Interlinking chapter 5/6. Trade and poverty, 1820-1913: when the Third World fell behind Jeffrey Williamson; 7. Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia Rima Ghanem and Joerg Baten; Interlinking chapter 7. Women in global economic history Sarah Carmichael, Selin Dilli and Auke Rijpma; Highlight article 7.1 The imperial expansion of the Ottoman Empire and its cultural determinants Rima Ghanem and Joerg Baten; 8. The economic history of South Asia: a survey of quantitative research Tirthankar Roy; Interlinking chapter 8. Human stature as a health indicator in colonial empires Joerg Baten and Kris Inwood; Highlight article 8.1 Did brain-drain from India cause underdevelopment? Numeracy of Indian migrants and the Indian population, seventeenth to twentieth century Joerg Baten; 9. Southeast Asia and Australia/New Zealand Martin Shanahan; Highlight article 9.1 Pre-history, ancient and classical periods of Southeast Asia Martin Shanahan; Interlinking chapter 9. Institutional development in world economic history Joerg Baten; 10. Sub-saharan Africa Gareth Austin; Highlight article 10.1 Why was Ethiopia not colonized during the late-nineteenth-century 'Scramble for Africa'? Marjolein't Hart; Conclusion Joerg Baten; Index.