Acknowledgments

Introduction Comparisons, Connections, and Narratives of European Economic Development

Variations on the Europe-Centered Story: Demography, Ecology, and Accumulation

Other Europe-Centered Stories: Markets, Firms, and Institutions

Problems with the Europe-Centered Stories

Building a More Inclusive Story

Comparisons, Connections, and the Structure of the Argument

A Note on Geographic Coverage

PART ONE: A WORLD OF SURPRISING RESEMBLANCES

Europe before Asia? Population, Capital Accumulation, and Technology in Explanations of European Development

Agriculture, Transport, and Livestock Capital

Living Longer? Living Better?

Birthrates

Accumulation?

What about Technology?

Market Economies in Europe and Asia

Land Markets and Restrictions on Land Use in China and Western Europe

Labor Systems

Migration, Markets, and Institutions

Markets for Farm Products

Rural Industry and Sideline Activities

Family Labor in China and Europe: ``Involution'' and the ``Industrious Revolution''

Conclusion to Part 1: Multiple Cores and Shared Constraints in the Early Modern World Economy

PART TWO: FROM NEW ETHOS TO NEW ECONOMY? CONSUMPTION, INVESTMENT, AND CAPITALISM

Introduction

Luxury Consumption and the Rise of Capitalism

More and Less Ordinary Luxuries

Everyday Luxuries and Popular Consumption in Early Modern Europe and Asia

Consumer Durables and the ``Objectification'' of Luxury

Exotic Goods and the Velocity of Fashion: Global Conjuncture and the Appearance of Culturally Based Economic Difference

Luxury Demand, Social Systems, and Capitalist Firms

Visible Hands: Firm Structure, Sociopolitical Structure, and ``Capitalism'' in Europe and Asia

Overseas Extraction and Capital Accumulation: The Williams Thesis Revisited

The Importance of the Obvious: Luxury Demand, Capitalism, and New World Colonization

Interstate Competition, Violence, and State Systems: How They Didn't Matter and How They Did

Conclusion to Part 2: The Significance of Similarities--and of Differences

PART THREE: BEYOND SMITH AND MALTHUS: FROM ECOLOGICAL CONSTRAINTS TO SUSTAINED INDUSTRIAL GROWTH

Shared Constraints: Ecological Strain in Western Europe and East Asia

Deforestation and Soil Depletion in China: Some Comparisons with Europe

Trading for Resources with Old World Peripheries: Common Patterns and Limits of Smithian Solutions to Quasi-Malthusian Problems

Abolishing the Land Constraint: The Americas as a New Kind of Periphery

Another New World, Another Windfall: Precious Metals

Some Measurements of Ecological Relief: Britain in the Age of the Industrial Revolution

Comparisons and Calculations: What Do the Numbers Mean?

Beyond and Besides the Numbers

Into an Industrial World

Last Comparisons: Labor Intensity, Resources, and Industrial ``Growing Up''

Appendix A Comparative Estimates of Land Transport Capacity per Person: Germany and North India, circa 1800

Appendix B Estimates of Manure Applied to North China and European Farms in the Late Eighteenth Century, and a Comparison of Resulting Nitrogen Fluxes

Appendix C Forest Cover and Fuel-Supply Estimates for France, Lingnan, and a Portion of North China, 1700-1850

Appendix D Estimates of ``Ghost Acreage'' Provided by Various Imports to Late Eighteenth- and Early Nineteenth-Century Britain

Appendix E Estimates of Earning Power of Rural Textile Workers in the Lower Yangzi Region of China, 1750-1840

Appendix F Estimates of Cotton and Silk Production, Lower Yangzi and China as a Whole, 1750 and Later--With Comparisons to United Kingdom, France, and Germany

Bibliography

Index