The Black Death
1346
Labour scarcity empowered peasants in the West but entrenched serfdom in the East — diverging institutional paths that persist to this day.
Atlantic Trade
1500s
Enriched merchants in England and Netherlands, entrenched crown elites in Spain — different political trajectories that shaped the Industrial Revolution.
Industrial Revolution
1760s
England's inclusive institutions let entrepreneurs innovate; extractive regimes elsewhere blocked it, falling irreversibly behind.
Colonial Boundaries
1880s
Arbitrary borders locked in extractive institutions across Africa and Asia — shaping poverty that persists today.
Iron Curtain
1945
East vs. West Germany: same people, same culture — different institutions determined diverging futures within a single generation.