The World Economy: Historical Statistics

The World Economy: Historical Statistics is a book by Angus Maddison. Published in 2004 by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, it studies the growth of populations and economies across the centuries: not just the World Economy as it is now, but how it was in the past.

Among other things, it confirms Adam Smith's view that China and India were at a level with Europe in the late 18th century, but also static whereas Europe was fast progressing. It also shows them recovering lost ground from the 1950s, and documents the much faster rise of Japan and East Asia and the economic shrinkage of Russia in the 1990s.

The book is a mass of statistical tables, mostly on a decade-by-decade basis, along with notes explaining the methods employed in arriving at particular figures. It is available both as a paperback book and in electronic format.