Contours of the World Economy

Angus Maddison's 2007 reconstruction of world economic history from 1 AD to 2030 — providing the most comprehensive database of historical GDP estimates — demonstrating that the West's economic superiority is a relatively recent development (post-1500) and that China and India dominated the world economy for most of history.

Creates the historical GDP database that quantifies civilizational economic trajectories — Maddison's reconstruction demonstrates that China and India together produced about 50% of world GDP in 1 AD and still about 45% in 1500, making the Western economic dominance of 1800–2000 the historical anomaly, not the default condition.