How Well Did Facts Travel to Support Protracted Debate on the History of the Great Divergence between Western Europe and Imperial China?

Deng, Kent and O'Brien, Patrick (2017): How Well Did Facts Travel to Support Protracted Debate on the History of the Great Divergence between Western Europe and Imperial China?

Abstract

This paper tackles the issue of how reliable the currently circulated 'facts' really are regarding the 'Great Divergence' debate. Our findings indicate strongly that 'facts' of premodern China are often of low quality and fragmented. Consequently, the application of these 'facts' can be misleading and harmful.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Great Divergence, historical evidence, GDP estimates
• Subjects: N - Economic History > N0 - General > N01 - Development of the Discipline: Historiographical; Sources and Methods; P - Economic Systems > P5 - Comparative Economic Systems

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