The Birth of Plenty

Financial expert and neurologist William J Bernstein argues that from the dawn of recorded history until 1820 the mass of humanity saw essentially no growth in living standards, and that only afterwards did prosperity begin to rise with each generation. He identifies four conditions that together made this possible: property rights, scientific rationalism, capital markets, and effective transportation and communications. Having set out these requirements, Bernstein traces how a range of countries fared with and without them. Bernstein also holds that these four attributes must come before democracy can take hold, and asks why the pathways to growth are still absent in many parts of the world. It is a history of the world told in economic terms.

Morgan Housel considered it the best account of why economies grow and how they do it.