The Malthusian Model

The warfare was extremely usual during 16th to 18th centuries in Europe, the average percentage years under the warfare is 89 %, that means there were 89 years under warfare in any of these three centuries. Along with the wars, there were plague and diseases outbreak Europe. All these indicate a high mortality in the early middle ages, and Europe’s income per capita had risen sharply during that time. The article explains the fast development of Europe via Malthusian model, and compares it to the rest of world like China. The First Divergence was the start of building the leading position of economy for Europe, since the European urbanization rate was far behind China in the eighth centuries, and GDP per capita was also lower than China during year 960 to year 1300. After the first divergence happened in 1500, Europe’s …show more content…
During early 19th centuries, China had a low urbanization rate and low frequency of wars. The frequency of military conflict in China was 85% lower than Europe during from 1350 to 1800. Not only less war caused the little mortality, but the less natural obstacle also leaded a convenient way to trade, so there was little disease. Besides these, China’s fertility exceeded the mortality. Therefore, China was an opposite case of Europe to prove the Malthusian cycle. The high birth rate, low war frequency and low death rate caused low income per capita in China in Ming and Qing Dynasty. Some other interpretation of high income per capita in Europe is the improvement of technologic innovation in Europe comparing the decline of technology in the rest of the world, discovering new land of North America that increased the natural resource of Europe, and fertility restriction that lowered the birth rate in Europe. All these interpretations explain how Europe becomes a developed economic environment