Kenneth Pomeranz

Kenneth Pomeranz is a professor of history at the University of California, Irvine. He is best known for his book The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy, which compares the economic development of Europe with that of China in the early modern period. In the book, Pomeranz argues that differences in geography, government policy, and social customs, rather than the cultural and technological advancements of Europe, were the main causes of its economic development outstripping that of China's. This argument directly challenged the long-standing belief that Europe had advanced far beyond China due to its cultural and technological superiority.