Geography and the wealth of nations

Two hundred and fifty years after the publication of The Wealth of Nations, Jeffrey D Sachs returns to one of Adam Smith's most striking claims: that "the discovery of America, and that of a passage to the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope, are the two greatest and most important events recorded in the history of mankind." Drawing on new geospatial datasets, Professor Sachs argues that Smith's observation captures deep truths about long-term global economic change — truths that remain profoundly relevant for our own age.