Modern Global Wealth Hierarchy (2018): Comparisons of Japan, India, Britain, US, and Norway

A significant and sustained increase in the income gap between different world regions began to accelerate in the 18th century. Which of the following statements best analyzes the fundamental economic shift that drove this trend?

The Industrial Revolution and the Widening Global Income Gap

Analyzing Historical Economic Trajectories

Arrange the following historical economic events in the correct chronological order to describe the process that led to a major increase in global inequality.

Match each historical term with the description that best characterizes its role in the changing landscape of global economic inequality.

The 'great divergence' describes the historical period where the global geography of production remained stable, but some nations became wealthier than others simply through more efficient trade practices within the existing economic system.

Connecting Technology, Production, and Inequality

Evaluating an Economic Historical Argument

The significant increase in income inequality between countries starting in the 17th and 18th centuries was driven by a fundamental change in the global __________, as the rise of industrial economies in Europe shifted the location of where most of the world's goods were made.

Two economic historians are debating the primary cause of the major surge in global income inequality that began to accelerate in the 18th century.

• Historian 1 argues: 'The divergence was primarily caused by long-standing differences in political institutions and legal systems. Some nations simply had systems more conducive to wealth accumulation all along, and this gap naturally widened over time.'

• Historian 2 argues: 'The divergence was triggered by a radical transformation in how and where goods were made, driven by technological breakthroughs. This fundamentally reordered the global economy, concentrating manufacturing and wealth in a handful of nations.'

Which of the following statements provides the best evaluation of these two arguments based on the historical trend known as the 'great divergence'?

The Great Divergence: Timing of Economic Take-off

Asia's Pre-Industrial Manufacturing Dominance

Shift in Global Manufacturing from Asia to Europe (1600-1900)