Concerning the Boswell/Gunder/et al. debate:
Part of Gunder's argument is that the same basic institutions -- dare I say
CAPITALIST institutions? -- prevailed in Asia and Europe during early modern
times. I would then raise the following question: Was there anything in Asia
even remotely resembling the Amsterdam stock exchange of the seventeenth
century? I don't think so. If not, surely this implies a big difference
between Asia and Europe.
Steve Sanderson