India in the World Economy, 1400-1750

Andre Gunder Frank World development between 1400 and 1800 reflects not Asia's weakness but its and particularly China's and India's economic strength and Europe's relative weakness in the global economy. For it was all these regions 'joint participation and place in the single but unequally structured and unevenly changing global economy that resulted also in changes in their relative positions in the world. The common global economic expansion since 1400 benefited the Asian centres earlier and more than it did Europe, Africa and the Americas. However, this very economic benefit turned into a growing absolute and relative disadvantage for one Asian region after another in the late 18th century. Production and trade began to atrophy as growing population and income and growing economic and social polarisation exerted pressure on resources, constrained effective demand at the bottom and increased the availability of cheap labour in Asia more than elsewhere in the world.