Economic Evolution. A New Look at Malthusianism, Ethnic Selection, and the Theory of Systemic Competition

Doctor of Economics U. Lemin's book is a true brief history of economics. It tells how the global economy has evolved throughout human history.

If we were to compress all of human history into one day, humanity would have remained in a state of extreme poverty for 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 57 seconds. Only in the last three seconds would the material provision curve sharply rise, and incomes would increase dramatically.

Why did people remain poor for so long? And why did wealth emerge so late and increase so rapidly? In the history of economics, as in the history of humanity in general, there are many mysteries. But the most important and intriguing are why we were poor before and why we later became rich. The so-called mysteries of the Malthusian trap and the origins of modern growth.

The author explains why humanity became rich and poor throughout its entire history. Contrary to traditional explanations, he believes that the main reason for the poverty trap was not population growth, but Darwinian selection between groups—competition of technologies, cultures, and institutions.

Fortunately, competition has two sides. When conditions changed, selection favored the rich and productive way of life, and we entered an era of vigorous economic growth. From this book, you will learn how precisely these changes occurred and why modern growth is so fragile that it can stop or even reverse.