ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses several ideas on how to locate the European miracle and the East Asian miracle in global history. Many authors have compared the European and Japanese "miracles", by defining them in various ways. It examines three recent books by E. L. Jones, The European Miracle: Environments, Economies and Geopolitics in the History of Europe and Asia; Growth Recurring: Economic Change in World History; and Coming Full Circle: An Economic History of the Pacific Rim. The chapter discusses the process of global industrialisation, and the role Europe and East Asia played in it. Trade increased essentially due to the growth of Asian entrepreneurship, which exploited important cultural similarities and differences. The growth of trade between the West and Asia was often accompanied by colonialism and tended to produce inequality, particularly between temperate and tropical zones.
