Estimates of Indian GDP are constructed from the output side for 1600-1871, and combined with population data. Indian per capita GDP declined steadily during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries before stabilising during the nineteenth century. As British growth increased from the mid-seventeenth century, India fell increasingly behind. Whereas in 1600, Indian per capita GDP was over 60 per cent of the British level, by 1871 it had fallen to less than 15 per cent. These estimates place the origins of the Great Divergence firmly in the early modern period, but also suggest a relatively prosperous India at the height of the Mughal Empire. They also suggest a period of "strong" deindustrialisation during the first three decades of the nineteenth century, with a small decline of industrial output rather than just a declining share of industry in economic activity.JEL classification: N10, N30, N35, O10, O57

POW labour in the literatureDespite the unprecedented scale of 35 million captured prisoners of war (POWs) globally during the Second World War, 1 little has been written about the economic significance of their employment. Davis, examining POW maintenance in both world wars, implies that in general they were a net liability for the captor given their excessive costs and low productivity. 2 This paper finds that the opposite holds true for German and Italian POWs in Britain and the Commonwealth: German POWs not only turned out to be less dangerous than initially feared, they also contributed significantly to the rural sector in Britain and Canada. Transferred according to labour demand, they proved an almost indispensable workforce in the immediate post-war period. After having introduced the reader to the literature on German POWs, new evidence on German and Italian POW employment in Britain is produced which revises existing figures upwards. Subsequently, this study discusses German POW labour and its contribution in Britain and also in Canada and finally turns to the subject of POW labour costs and revenues and post-war POW labour transfers. This study concludes that the Germans were a blessing in disguise as they, despite being the enemy, provided vital support to wartime and post-war rural industries.Literature on POW labour during and after the Second World War in general is incomplete. While several studies cover POW employment in American, German and Russian hands, the British Commonwealth remains under-researched. 3 Moore and Fedorowich have extensively researched Italian POW maintenance in Britain and the Commonwealth. Their work primarily focuses on British POW policy and POW experiences, but they have also furnished a wealth of statistics on Italian (and to a limited extent also German) POW employment. Moore notes that the British government realised the Italian POW potential as a labour asset, despite initially regarding them as a security burden. 4 He highlights the manpower considerations influencing

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