Chapter 8

In Europe, the printing press changed everything. By 1800, 60% of European men and 40% of European women were literate. But the Ottoman Empire banned the use of the printing press for centuries and when they finally allowed it assigned a panel of religious experts to ensure that the books printed met with the moral and religious standards of the political elite. The consequence: by 1800, only 2% of the Ottoman population was literate. And all because extractive institutions made it possible for elites to dominate and control the populace. The Ottoman Empire was an extractive institution and held back Arab growth until its collapse after World War I. While the Ottomans and other absolutist regimes held back growth, however, some societies that lacked centralized states remained very powerful, since there was no state to produce order and create rules and property rights. States can be too elite and too weak. Both provide barriers to development.