Prof. BAM Discusses History – Why the West Went Ahead of the Rest?

A customer service phone call with our featured tutor Prof. BAM turned into an interesting discussion centered the history problem of why did Europe and later America developed much more rapidly then the rest of the world.

Initially Prof. BAM referred to Jayant Bhandari’s article “Why the West Went Ahead of the Rest”. With great interest I read this article. Here is a short excerpt about it:

Jayant Bhandari dispels popular “myths” it was the killer applications like steel and guns that gave Europe the edge of Asia, Africa and the Americas. After all steel and guns were used in China even earlier but did trigger a substantial increase in the China’s standard of living back then.

Bhandari also rejects the myth it was the large Eurasia land mass with its agricultural fertility which made the difference. The counter argument was simple: Why did not all Eurasian societies went ahead of the rest?

Bhandari’s punch line is that individualism make the big difference. He is right to argue that respect for the individual leads to reasoning and a “philosophy of individual rights, a reduction in the exploitation of human beings, and an increase in adventurous risk-taking, all working in sync and with increasing social cohesion.” Yet still where does this reverence of Individualism come from and how could it have been sustained?

While I do not know the answer of my above questions I know that political competition played a major in getting Europe ahead of the rest. After the fall of Rome Europe disintegrated in to thousands of little states, dukedoms and dioceses. The manor system rose – a patchwork of rural landlords.

Medieval Germany was especially decentralized. In the 15th century there were over 10,000 political units present.

These political atoms competed which each other by means of production and treatment of labor. If one landlord ruled with an iron fist over its subjects, they had the opportunity to fly to a more benign neighboring lord. Similarly, if the peasantry was taxed too harshly they would eventually move to a more favorable political unit.

This political competition put a lid on the amount taxes a landlord could extort. It also damped his tendency to enact bad laws. These trends are precisely what the Austrian school of economics gives as the major reason why societies flourish. It is the personal and economic freedom, secure property rights, division of labor, little taxation and a stable currency which increases the wealth of nations.

Are you interested in this topic? Hire Professor BAM or other of our history and economics tutors. Or bring up this point the next time you have a discussion in our history or economics course.