Reversals of Fortune

Taylor & Francis

Reversals of FortuneWhy the Hierarchy Of Nations So Often Turns Topsy-Turvy\nAuthor(s): Ashok Sanjay Guha\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd, United Kingdom\nImprint: Routledge India\nISBN-13: 9780367466046, 978-0367466046\nSynopsis\nWhy has history so often turned the economic and political hierarchy of nations topsy-turvy? This book examines the evidence of the last 500 years to challenge the two dominant narratives on the answers to this question. It argues that the explanation lies neither in the quality of institutions that societies possess nor in their capacities for technological innovation. What matters for the economic and political success of a country, it claims, is the interaction between current technological knowledge and global demand on the one hand and its geography and the population it inherits from its past on the other. Those societies succeed whose endowments best fit the requirements of current technology and world demand. It hardly matter.