Larry Neal is Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Specializing in financial history and European economies, he is author of The Rise of Financial Capitalism: International Capital Markets in the Age of Reason (Cambridge, 1990) and The Economics of Europe and the European Union (Cambridge, 2007), and is co-editor of The Origins and Development of Financial Markets and Institutions: From the Seventeenth Century to the Present (Cambridge, 2009) and 'I am Not Master of Events': The Speculations of John Law and Lord Londonderry in the Mississippi and South Sea Bubbles (2012). Jeffrey G. Williamson is Emeritus Laird Bell Professor of Economics, Harvard University, and Honorary Fellow in the Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is also Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research, and has been a visiting professor at seventeen universities around the world. Professor Williamson specializes in development, inequality, globalization and history, and he is the author of around 230 scholarly articles and thirty books, his most recent being Trade and Poverty: When the Third World Fell Behind (2011), Globalization and the Poor Periphery before 1950 (2006), Global Migration and the World Economy (2005, with T. Hatton) and Globalization in Historical Perspective (2003, edited with M. Bordo and A. M. Taylor).

'In many respects the history of capitalism is the history most relevant to our times. It's a huge story and is well told in this very important book.' Lawrence H. Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor, Harvard University

• Volume 1: 1. Introduction Larry Neal; 2. Babylonia in the first millennium BC – economic growth in times of empire Michael Jursa; 3. Capitalism and the ancient Greek economy Alain Bresson; 4. Re-constructing the Roman economy Willem M. Jongman; 5. Trans-Asian trade, or the Silk Road deconstructed (Antiquity, Middle Ages) Étienne de la Vaissière; 6. China before capitalism R. Bin Wong; 7. Capitalism in India in the very long run Tirthankar Roy; 8. Institutional change and economic development in the Middle East, 700–1800 Şevket Pamuk; 9. Markets and coercion in medieval Europe Karl Gunnar Persson; 10. The Via Italiana to capitalism Luciano Pezzolo; 11. The Low Countries Oscar Gelderblom and Joost Jonker; 12. The formation of states and transitions to modern economies: England, Europe and Asia compared Patrick Karl O'Brien; 13. Pre-Columbian and Iberian America Richard Salvucci; 14. The emergence of African capitalism Morten Jerven; 15. Native Americans and exchange: strategies and interactions before 1800 Ann M. Carlos and Frank D. Lewis; 16. British and European industrialization C. Knick Harley; 17. America: capitalism's promised land Jeremy Atack; 18. The political economy of rising capitalism José Luís Cardoso; Index. Volume 2: 1. Introduction: the spread of and resistance to global capitalism Kevin H. O'Rourke and Jeffrey G. Williamson; 2. The spread of manufacturing Robert C. Allen; 3. Growth, specialization and organization of world agriculture Giovanni Federico; 4. Technology and the spread of capitalism Kristine Bruland and David C. Mowery; 5. Spread of legal innovations defining private and public domains Ron Harris; 6. Firms and global capitalism Geoffrey Jones; 7. Enterprise models: freestanding firms versus family pyramids Randall Morck and Bernard Yeung; 8. Financial capitalism Ranald Michie; 9. International capital movements and the global order Harold James; 11. Capitalism at war Mark Harrison; 12. Modern capitalism: enthusiasts, opponents, and reformers Jeffry Frieden and Ronald Rogowski; 13. Labor movements Michael Huberman; 14. 'Private welfare and the welfare state' Peter H. Lindert; 15. Capitalism and human welfare Leandro Prados de la Escosura; 16. The future of capitalism Larry Neal and Jeffrey G. Williamson; Index.