Darren Asemoglu's "Why nations fail" gives a pretty good attempt at explaining the east vs. west divide in from the point of view of extractive vs. inclusive in

Darren Asemoglu's "Why nations fail" gives a pretty good attempt at explaining the east vs. west divide in from the point of view of extractive vs. inclusive institutions and manages to build up a pretty convincing case. I warmly endorse this book to everyone who is even sligthly interested of history or economics.