In this book he explores how humans have been able to escape from the 'Mathusian trap' (whenever societies managed to bring about a food surplus through technological innovation, resulting in increase in living standards and reduction of mortality, but only temporarily since the ensuing population growth would deplete surpluses, and so living conditions would revert to subsistence level), by looking at all the factors that could have played a role in the sharp rise of population growth and inequalities between nations.
He looks at aspects of geographical location, technological development, population diversity, population size, cultural and institutional factors. He goes back to the early days of homo sapiens with a broad perspective to our modern day era, to conclude that
"the long arc of human history reveals that geographical characteristics and population diversity (...) are predominantly the deeptest factors behind global inequalities, while cultural and institutional adaptation have often dictated the speed at which development progressed in societies across the globe" (p. 232)
The graph below explains this process, as well as giving an outline of the boook itself. Galor's reasoning is well-substantiated, and a much better book than for instance "Sapiens" by Yuval Noah Harari for the dual reason that Galor has evidence for each topic he covers without the need to have strong value judgments or political views on the subject of his research. The fact that he is less value-driven makes his book all the more valuable.
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