The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective is a "must" for all scholars of economics and economic history, while the casual reader will find much of fascinating interest. It is also a monumental work of reference. The book has several objectives. The first is a pioneering effort to quantify the economic performance of nations over the very long term. The second is to identify the forces which explain the success of the rich countries, and explore the obstacles which hindered advance in regions which lagged behind. The third is to scrutinise the interaction between the rich and the rest to assess the degree to which this relationship was exploitative.