Reading is productive

An interesting diagram from Introduction to Social Macrodynamics, Compact Macromodels of the World System Growth by Andrey Korotayev, Artemy Malkov, and Daria Khaltourina, 2006.

I am not versed in the comparative academic rigor of Russian historical research but I think these authors are all associated with Moscow University which by reputation is solid. Their graph shows the predictive power of literacy rates in 1800 to future national economic productivity.