Assessing Elite Human Capital in Asia: Exploring the Historical Roots of the Great Divergence, 1000-1900

01/05/2026 to 30/09/2029

This project aims to evaluate the long-term development of human capital of elites in Asia and hence explore the roots of the Great Divergence from this perspective. As the variable to be explained, we focus on (a) existing real wage estimates; (b) real wages estimated using anthropometric data (see below); and (c) urbanization. One of the central challenges in assessing the role of historical human capital in the Great Divergence lies in measurement. Standard indicators—such as school enrollment, literacy rates, or years of schooling—are rarely available before the nineteenth century, especially outside of Europe. To overcome this constraint, we adopt a new set of numeracy-based indicators that allow us to track human capital (especially in its upper tail) across centuries and across Asian regions