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Economic growth transformed the world. It freed us from a world where nearly everyone was mired in poverty and half of all children died before reaching adulthood. However, these benefits have not been felt everywhere, nor by everyone. In this groundbreaking new account of the divergence between east and west, Philip T. Hoffman uncovers the ultimate causes of economic growth and the reasons why it originated in seventeenth-century western Europe. He examines the relative impacts of a wide range of economic, political, and social factors, from high wages, cheap capital, and financial institutions to political fragmentation, porous borders, and interstate warfare. Through accessible economic principles and fascinating case studies, he demonstrates why growth began in Britain, why it spread so unevenly elsewhere, and why inequality inhibits growth.