The Rise (and Rise) of the World Economy
In this chapter we turn from the consideration of individual countries to the whole world economy and document the continuing rapid rises in global incomes. Growth is shown to have been rapid for some periods and for some regions but it has been as far from uniform as can be imagined. Understanding the variations in the patterns of growth across regions provides insights into the changing geography of poverty and into the causes of the unease in once dominant countries. The success in creating high national incomes provides the environment that enables billionaires to emerge; the failures in the growth of such incomes are the sources of continuing absolute dire poverty.