mathematics

The World Economy: Historical Statistics

The World Economy: Historical Statistics is a mathematics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The World Economy: Historical Statistics rather than just read about it. In short: The World Economy: Historical Statistics is a landmark book by Angus Maddison. Published in 2004 by the OECD Development Centre, 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.

Key takeaways

The World Economy: Historical Statistics belongs to mathematics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The World Economy: Historical Statistics to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The World Economy: Historical Statistics from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The World Economy: Historical Statistics is a landmark book by Angus Maddison. Published in 2004 by the OECD Development Centre, 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 showed that Europe's gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was faster progressing than the leading Asian economies since 1000 AD, reaching again a higher level than elsewhere from the 15th century, while Asian GDP per capita remained static until 1800, when it even began to shrink in absolute terms, as Maddison demonstrated in a subsequent book. At the same time, Maddison showed 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. Some tables are available on the official website.

See also List of regions by past GDP (PPP) per capita Angus Maddison statistics of the ten largest economies by GDP (PPP) Maddison Project, a project started in March 2010 to continue Maddison's work after his death

References

External links Angus Maddison's Homepage at the Groningen Growth and Development Centre Official website of The World Economy

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The World Economy: Historical Statistics

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The World Economy: Historical Statistics claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In mathematics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The World Economy: Historical Statistics before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The World Economy: Historical Statistics ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The World Economy: Historical Statistics

In research: The World Economy: Historical Statistics appears in mathematics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The World Economy: Historical Statistics in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The World Economy: Historical Statistics is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2004 non-fiction books, Books about economic history, Demography, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The World Economy: Historical Statistics outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The World Economy: Historical Statistics in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The World Economy: Historical Statistics means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The World Economy: Historical Statistics out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The World Economy: Historical Statistics in simple terms?

Why does The World Economy: Historical Statistics matter?

Because it connects several mathematics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The World Economy: Historical Statistics?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The World Economy: Historical Statistics.