This volume calls for a major rethinking of our understanding of industrialization for global history, by bringing the East Asian experience of ‘labour-intensive’ industrialization into focus and, thereby, reinterpreting both the western experience of ‘capital-intensive’ industrialization and the equally distinctive experiences of countries in other regions of Asia and in Africa and Latin America. We argue that the absorption of labour into ‘labour-intensive’ industries, both traditional and modern, and the improvement of the quality of labour formed a central mechanism of global diffusion of industrialization. This volume presents a discussion on the significance of labour-intensive industrialization by leading economic historians engaged in the development of synthesizing theses and/or specializing in relevant regions, and seeking to foster the new academic dialogue on global economic history.