’Capitalist Epoch’

choi

Daniel Henninger, The Growth Revolutions Erupt; Ukrainians want what we've got: The benefits of real economic growth. Wall Street Journal, Feb 27, 2014 (column).
online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304255604579407270835417610

Quote:

"All future histories of the Obama presidency will analyze the phrase 'leading from behind'—the idea that the US superpower should behave as no more than a co-equal partner in managing the affairs of the world. Chapters will be devoted to laying this revisionist template over Libya, Syria and Iran. There is one area, though, in which the returns are already in on this new notion of American leadership: For five years, the US has been leading the world economy from behind. It's not pretty. Across the postwar period, the US has been the 'engine' that pulls the world economy. [No more. 'Even China is decelerating.']

"Angus Maddison, the late and eminent economist for the OECD, produced a famous chart in 1995, depicted nearby. For the longest time—basically from after the Garden of Eden until the 19th century—economic benefit for the average person in the West or Japan was flat as toast. * * * Maddison describes 1820 till 1950 as the 'capitalist epoch.' He means that admiringly. * * * Maddison also noted that much of the world did not participate in the capitalist epoch. No wonder they revolt now.

"In a puckish moment, Angus Maddison did say that income inequality was rather minimal in the 11th century. Now those were the days.

Note:
(a) I can not find in a dictionary "flat as toast." But the following examples in the Web convince me the toast is a piece of bread.

"I stopped at a service station and sure enough, the tire was flat as toast."

"I looked down to see him flat as toast on the pavement."

(b) puckish (adj; from puck as a noun)
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/puckish
(c) The conventional wisdom is Japan experienced economic growth after Meiji Restoration. Which turns out to be correct.

Angus Maddison, The World Economy; A millennial perspective. Development Centre of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2001.
theunbrokenwindow.com/Development/MADDISON%20The%20World%20Economy--A%20Millennial.pdf

Please read (neither China nor US was treated by this treatise as separate entities with their own data sets):
(i) page 18: “[heading:] a) Conquest or settlement of relatively empty areas which had fertile land, new biological resources,
or a potential to accommodate transfers of population, crops and livestock[:] [first paragraph:] One important instance of this process was Chinese settlement of the relatively empty and swampy lands south of the Yangtse, and introduction of new quick–ripening strains of rice from Vietnam suitable for multicropping. This process occurred between the eighth and thirteenth centuries, during which population growth accelerated, per capita income rose by a third, and the distribution of population and economic activity were transformed. In the eighth century only a quarter of the Chinese population lived south of the Yangtse; in the thirteenth, more than threequarters. The new technology involved higher labour inputs, so productivity rose less than per capita income.” (footnote omitted)

It hinted that quick-ripening rice strains in China came from Vietnam.
(ii) It is interesting to read economic history--under the heading "b) international trade and capital movements," from pp 19 to 23.
(iii) page 28: Tables 1-2 (rate of growth of GDP per capita) and 1.3 (rate of growth of GDP) of years 1, 1000, 1820 and 1998 only.

This explains the graphic in the Henninger column: these tables (1-2 and 1-3) did not include the years in between (such as 1870). However, (iv) did. See next.
(iv) Chapter 3 The World Economy in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century (text at 125, only; Tables 3-1a, 3-1b, 3-1c, 3-5)

Oftentimes I wonder why after World War II Taiwan stood out in terms of economic growth, along with three other Asian tigers. Access to US market was certainly imperative. I’d say Taiwan was lucky, having read (iv). And, does this mean China has missed the train, perhaps permanently?

(d) See also
Angus Maddison and Harry X Wu, Measuring China's Economic Performance: How Fast Has Its Economy Grown and How Big Is It Compared With the USA?  Not published in any journal.
pwt.sas.upenn.edu/papers/Maddison-Wu%20(Harry's%20draft%20version%2029%20Jan%2007).pdf

Only view “Table 1: Official & Maddison-Wu Estimates of GDP and GDP Per Capita (1990 international Geary-Khamis $),” which displayed four years: 1952, 1978, 1990 and 2003.

The table is at the end of the essay, after bibliography.