<P> The Old World methods of agriculture and production could only sustain certain lifestyles . Industrialization dramatically changed the European economy and allowed it to attain much higher levels of wealth and productivity than the other Old World cores . Although Western technology later spread to the East, differences in uses preserved the Western lead and accelerated the Great Divergence . </P> <P> When analyzing comparative use - efficiency, the economic concept of total factor productivity (TFP) is applied to quantify differences between countries . TFP analysis controls for differences in energy and raw material inputs across countries and is then used to calculate productivity . The difference in productivity levels, therefore, reflects efficiency of energy and raw materials use rather than the raw materials themselves . TFP analysis has shown that Western countries had higher TFP levels on average in the 19th century than Eastern countries such as India or China, showing that Western productivity had surpassed the East . </P> <P> Some of the most striking evidence for the Great Divergence comes from data on per capita income . The West's rise to power directly coincides with per capita income in the West surpassing that in the East . This change can be attributed largely to the mass transit technologies, such as railroads and steamboats, that the West developed in the 19th century . The construction of large ships, trains, and railroads greatly increased productivity . These modes of transport made moving large quantities of coal, corn, grain, livestock and other goods across countries more efficient, greatly reducing transportation costs . These differences allowed Western productivity to exceed that of other regions . </P> <P> Economic historian Paul Bairoch has estimated the GDP per capita of several major countries in 1960 US dollars after the Industrial Revolution in the early 19th century, as shown below . </P>

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