The Wealth and Poverty of Nations

A Whistle Stop Tour of World History

World history highlights societies that have done the best at building business, and the ones that remain best at it. These societies followed the prevailing currents of technological advances and became more modern, as seen in the following pivotal historic events.

A Case in Point

In 1836, Nathan Rothschild, perhaps the wealthiest person on the globe at the time, died of a relatively minor infection that his era’s best doctors could not cure. Today, any ordinary person could readily get a simple medication to cure such a condition. Medicine has taken great steps during modern history. Consistently, greater science and greater sanitation have helped people live longer by allowing them to avoid disease. In the mid-nineteenth century, people could easily catch gastrointestinal infections in any ordinary bathroom facility. Clothes were all made of wool; the very absence of easily washable, changeable underwear and the lack of toilet paper helped spread disease, since people were not aware of the importance of hand-washing. Jews and Muslims, whose religious beliefs required them to wash, tended to live longer since such practices...