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Road to Riches or The Wealth of Man
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 27, 2016
Truly, a wealth of information about the economic history of the world. Learned a myriad of little known facts. Jay covers the broad swath of human economic activity through history.
September 21, 2026
Economic history is a topic that I do find interesting. I find it more interesting than the history of war because, in part, economics shapes war. The Road to Riches is an economic history book that takes a long-term view of history from the Stone Age to the year 2000. The book attempts to take a longitudinal view of wealth and looks at the basis for how wealth was created. Peter Jay lays down the framework for how humanity came to be as wealthy as it did.
Road to Riches, or The Wealth of Man attempts to lay out all the economic breakthroughs that have allowed humanity to become so productive. Agriculture, trade and technology are all factors in how humanity increased its wealth. One of the breakthroughs that Peter Jay lays down as important is the importance of agriculture, which allowed civilisations to create specialisation in economics and then led to greater complexity. Trade likewise boosts the development of economies. The first time a globalising economy was identified by Peter Jay was not in the 20th century but in the 16th century, when the European powers started to build maritime fleets to explore and conquer the world. Then there are the trains that came in the 19th century. Before trains, it was only possible to trade via water for it to be cheap enough. After trains, it was economically viable to trade anywhere on earth.
The key takeaway from Road to Riches is that economic gains compound over time. Even after the fall of the Roman Empire, there were economic gains throughout trading in the Medieval period as trading associations and guilds were formed. These economic gains may not be noticed by people in their time period but gradually improve the economies. It is worth mentioning that there has been no economic growth like that since the Industrial Revolution, with massive increases in output and productivity.
The book is well researched with lots of citations. Despite its obscurity, the book attempts to use a lot of different research to prove its point. I always appreciate a well-researched book, especially for a history book. Despite its obscurity, I would give it a four-star review. Well worth a read for understanding the economic history of the world.
Road to Riches, or The Wealth of Man attempts to lay out all the economic breakthroughs that have allowed humanity to become so productive. Agriculture, trade and technology are all factors in how humanity increased its wealth. One of the breakthroughs that Peter Jay lays down as important is the importance of agriculture, which allowed civilisations to create specialisation in economics and then led to greater complexity. Trade likewise boosts the development of economies. The first time a globalising economy was identified by Peter Jay was not in the 20th century but in the 16th century, when the European powers started to build maritime fleets to explore and conquer the world. Then there are the trains that came in the 19th century. Before trains, it was only possible to trade via water for it to be cheap enough. After trains, it was economically viable to trade anywhere on earth.
The key takeaway from Road to Riches is that economic gains compound over time. Even after the fall of the Roman Empire, there were economic gains throughout trading in the Medieval period as trading associations and guilds were formed. These economic gains may not be noticed by people in their time period but gradually improve the economies. It is worth mentioning that there has been no economic growth like that since the Industrial Revolution, with massive increases in output and productivity.
The book is well researched with lots of citations. Despite its obscurity, the book attempts to use a lot of different research to prove its point. I always appreciate a well-researched book, especially for a history book. Despite its obscurity, I would give it a four-star review. Well worth a read for understanding the economic history of the world.
September 20, 2026
I quite like this book, particularly the way it made such a broad a sweeping subject relatively easy for consumption by non academic readers or those that don’t have more advanced economic or financial backgrounds. Some great insights and perspectives. Always interesting to read books of this type a generation after they’ve been written to see how their predictions have played out. 25-26 years since this was written a lot has changed given it was written late ‘90’s. Internet was in its infancy, no impacts of social media, iPhone, online commerce really just beginning to take effect. Some of the negative impacts of unfettered markets and neoliberalism not yet evident, Sept 11, Iraq and Afghanistan wars, GFC and COVID, Brexit. It does allude to the potential for some of these type of scenarios to play out at the end.
April 28, 2019
On the whole are rather good book with interesting anecdotes and thesis’s. Regarding the anthropological side of the book it doesn’t give much room for differing ideas about the development of society. Moving on towards agrarian societies, Jay gives a good understanding towards how and why early civilisation came into existence. My only plight with it is, is it is all rather vague hitherto. Lots of the book felt like filler material. I must add however in the last 50 pages and his interpretation Keynes’ views on development and where we are going as a race are fascinating and eye opening.
October 6, 2021
pretty heavy, but learned a lot, and glad i've read it.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews