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The wealth and poverty of nations : why some are so rich and some so poor / David S. Landes.

By: Landes, David SMaterial type: TextTextPublication details: New York : W.W. Norton, c1998. Edition: 1st edDescription: xxi, 650 p. : maps ; 25 cmISBN: 0393040178; 0349111669Subject(s): Wealth -- Europe -- History | Wealth -- History | Poverty -- Europe -- History | Poverty -- History | Regional economic disparities -- History | Economic history | Economic development -- Social aspectsDDC classification: 362.5 LOC classification: HC240.Z9 | W45 1998Online resources: Book review (H-Net) Summary: David S. Landes tells the long, fascinating story of wealth and power throughout the world: the creation of wealth, the paths of winners and losers, the rise and fall of nations. He studies history as a process, attempting to understand how the world's cultures lead to - or retard - economic and military success and material achievement.Summary: Countries of the West, Landes asserts, prospered early through the interplay of a vital, open society focused on work and knowledge, which led to increased productivity, the creation of new technologies, and the pursuit of change. Europe's key advantage lay in invention and know-how, as applied in war, transportation, generation of power, and skill in metalwork. Even such now banal inventions as eyeglasses and the clock were, in their day, powerful levers that tipped the balance of world economic power. Today's new economic winners are following much the same roads to power, while the laggards have somehow failed to duplicate this crucial formula for success. The key to relieving much of the world's poverty lies in understanding the lessons history has to teach us - lessons uniquely imparted in this towering work of history.
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Item type Current library Call number Status Notes Date due Barcode
Books Books Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre Library
General Stacks
362.5 LAW 1988 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available Shamim 104525
Books Books Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre Library
General Stacks
362.5 LAW 1988 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available Shakib 93680

Includes bibliographical references (p. [567]-635) and index.

David S. Landes tells the long, fascinating story of wealth and power throughout the world: the creation of wealth, the paths of winners and losers, the rise and fall of nations. He studies history as a process, attempting to understand how the world's cultures lead to - or retard - economic and military success and material achievement.

Countries of the West, Landes asserts, prospered early through the interplay of a vital, open society focused on work and knowledge, which led to increased productivity, the creation of new technologies, and the pursuit of change. Europe's key advantage lay in invention and know-how, as applied in war, transportation, generation of power, and skill in metalwork. Even such now banal inventions as eyeglasses and the clock were, in their day, powerful levers that tipped the balance of world economic power. Today's new economic winners are following much the same roads to power, while the laggards have somehow failed to duplicate this crucial formula for success. The key to relieving much of the world's poverty lies in understanding the lessons history has to teach us - lessons uniquely imparted in this towering work of history.

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