ReORIENT: Global Economy in the Asian Age

Title Page......Page 2
Copyright Page......Page 3
Dedication Page......Page 4
Contents......Page 6
Preface......Page 11
1: Introduction to Real World History vs. Eurocentric Social Theory......Page 25
Holistic Methodology and Objectives......Page 26
Globalism, not Eurocentrism......Page 32
Smith, Marx, and Weber......Page 36
Contemporary Eurocentrism and Its Critics......Page 43
Economic Historians......Page 46
Limitations of Recent Social Theory......Page 48
Outline of a Global Economic Perspective......Page 55
Anticipating and Confronting Resistance and Obstacles......Page 59
An Introduction to the World Economy......Page 73
Thirteenth- and Fourteenth-Century Antecedents......Page 76
The Columbian Exchange and Its Consequences......Page 79
Some Neglected Features in the World Economy......Page 81
Mapping the Global Economy......Page 84
The Americas......Page 89
Africa......Page 91
Europe......Page 93
West Asia......Page 94
The Ottomans......Page 96
Safavid Persia......Page 100
India and the Indian Ocean......Page 102
Gujarat and Malabar......Page 107
Bengal......Page 108
Southeast Asia......Page 109
Archipellago and Islands......Page 113
Mainland......Page 117
Japan......Page 119
China......Page 122
Population, Production, and Trade......Page 124
China in the World Economy......Page 126
Central Asia......Page 131
Russia and the Baltics......Page 136
Summary of a Sinocentric World Economy......Page 139
World Money: Its Production and Exchange......Page 144
Micro- and Macro-Attractions in the Global Casino......Page 146
Dealing and Playing in the Global Casino......Page 151
The Numbers Game......Page 154
Silver......Page 155
Credit......Page 161
The Hoarding Thesis......Page 162
Inflation or Production in the Quantity Theory of Money......Page 164
In India......Page 168
In China......Page 171
Elsewhere in Asia?......Page 172
4: The Global Economy: Comparisons and Relations......Page 175
Quantities: Population, Production, Productivity, Income, and Trade......Page 176
Population, Production, and Income......Page 177
Productivity and Competitiveness......Page 184
World Trade 1400-1600......Page 187
Eurocentrism Regarding Science and Technology in Asia......Page 193
Guns......Page 202
Ships......Page 204
Textiles......Page 207
Metallurgy, Coal, and Power......Page 209
World Technological Development......Page 210
Mechanisms: Economic and Financial Institutions......Page 211
Comparing and Relating Asian and European Institutions......Page 214
Global Institutional Relations......Page 216
In India......Page 219
In China......Page 223
5: Horizontally Integrative Macrohistory......Page 230
Simultaneity Is No Coincidence......Page 232
A “Seventeenth-Century Crisis”?......Page 234
The 1640 Silver Crises......Page 240
Kondratieff Analysis......Page 251
The 1762-1790 Kondratieff “B” Phase: Crisis and Recessions......Page 253
A More Horizontally Integrative Macrohistory?......Page 256
6: Why Did the West Win (Temporarily)......Page 260
Is There a Long-Cycle Roller Coaster?......Page 262
The Decline of the East Preceded the Rise of the West......Page 266
The Decline in India......Page 268
The Decline Elsewhere in Asia......Page 272
How Did the West Rise?......Page 276
Climbing Up on Asian Shoulders......Page 278
Supply and Demand for Technological Change......Page 283
Supplies and Sources of Capital......Page 292
A Global Economic Demographic Explanation......Page 295
A Demographic Economic Model......Page 296
A High-Level Equilibrium Trap?......Page 298
The Evidence: 1500-1750......Page 305
The 1750 Inflection......Page 306
Challenging and Reformulating the Explanation......Page 309
In China......Page 311
In Western Europe......Page 312
Past Conclusions and Future Implications......Page 314
7: Historiographic Conclusions and Theoretical Implications......Page 318
The Asiatic Mode of Production......Page 319
European Exceptionalism......Page 321
A European World-System or a Global Economy?......Page 324
1500: Continuity or Break?......Page 325
Capitalism?......Page 326
Hegemony?......Page 329
The Rise of the West and the Industrial Revolution......Page 330
Empty Categories and Procrustean Beds......Page 331
Theoretical Implications: Through the Global Looking Glass......Page 335
Holism vs. Partialism......Page 336
Commonality/Similarity vs. Specificity/Differenees......Page 337
Continuity vs. Discontinuities......Page 338
Horizontal Integration vs. Vertical Separation......Page 340
Cycles vs. Linearity?......Page 342
Agency vs. Structure......Page 347
Europe in the World Economic Nutshell......Page 348
Jihad vs. McWorld in the Anarchy of the Clash of Civilizations?......Page 353
References......Page 356
Index......Page 379