Peter H. Lindert is Distinguished Professor of Economics at the University of California, Davis. His previous publications include the prize-winning book Growing Public: Social Spending and Economic Growth since the Eighteenth Century (2004) and Unequal Gains: American Growth and Inequality since 1700 (2016, with Jeffrey Williamson).

• List of Figures; List of Tables; Part I. Overview: 1. Enduring Issues; 2. Findings and Lessons; Part II. The Long Rise, and its Causes: 3. Why Poor Relief Arrived So Late; 4. The Dawn of Mass Schooling before 1914; 5. Public Education since 1914; 6. More, but Different, Social Spending in Rich Countries since 1914; 7. Is the Rest of the World Following a Different Path?; Part III. What Effects?: 8. Effects on Growth, Jobs, and Life; 9. Why No Net Loss of GDP or Work?; 10. Do the Rich Pay the Poor for All This?; Part IV. Confronting Threats: 11. Do Immigration Tensions Fray the Safety Nets?; 12. Pensions and the Curse of Long Life; 13. Approaches to Public Pension Reform; 14. Borrowing Social-Spending Lessons; Appendix A. Sources and Notes for Chapters 3 and 4; Appendix B. Sources and Notes for Chapter 10; Appendix C. Chapter 12's Pension Accounting – Equations and Forecasts; Acknowledgements; Notes; References; Index.

'It's hard to think of anyone who has had such a profound effect on the way we think about political economy. This remarkable book gives us all more to chew over. Peter Lindert continues to set the agenda.' James A. Robinson, co-author of Why Nations Fail