Why did Western Europe become the richest region of the early modern world? Was the rise of the West powered by colonization, inventions, or something else entirely? And what happened to the medieval might of China and India?

The term “great divergence” is increasingly used by historians who are bold enough to study this immense question, but who want to do it carefully, without falling into traditional East-West clichés.

This episode marks the beginning of a five-episode series exploring the state of this research, produced by the University of Warwick’s CAGE Research Centre in collaboration with the On Humans Podcast.

In this opening episode, we meet Kenneth Pomeranz, the historian of China who coined the term "great divergence" in a field-defining book of the same name. We begin by discussing Pomeranz’s groundbreaking approach and the surprising answers that he arrived at. In the second half of the episode, we zoom out and place the rise of the West into the broader story about the history of humanity – a story Pomeranz divides into four parts, with the fifth one beginning right now.

Enjoy!

LINKS AND REFERENCES

Do you prefer reading to listening? You can find summary essays, bibliographies, and much more at our series page: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/centres/cage/news/podcasts/

GREAT DIVERGENCE

The making of the modern world

This episode is part of a series, produced by Warwick University’s CAGE Research Centre in collaboration with On Humans. The series searches for explanations to why Western Europe and North America overtook China and India as the richest regions of the modern world. Guided by six expert guests, including a winner of the 2025 Nobel Prize in economics, we approach this topic with balance and breadth, exploring everything from colonialism and fossil fuels to science and technology.

1 | Why the West? Colonies, fossil fuels, and lessons from China (with Kenneth Pomeranz)

2 | Did science and the Enlightenment give Europe the edge? (Joel Mokyr)

3 | Why did the Industrial Revolution happen in Britain? (Robert Allen)

4 | What happened in the East? China, Japan, and the power of the state (Debin Ma)

5 | What about the rest of the world? Measuring the origins of the modern economy (Bishnupriya Gupta and Stephen Broadberry)

NAMES MENTIONED

KEYWORDS

INFO

Guest: Kenneth Pomeranz (University of Chicago)

Host: Ilari Mäkelä (On Humans Podcast)

Contact: greatdivergencepod@gmail.com

Music by Aleksey Chistilin (Lexin_Music) ⁠via Pixabay.⁠

Why the West? Colonies, Fossil Fuels, and Lessons from China ~ Kenneth Pomeranz