Economic backwardness in relation to most European countries, especially the Western countries that serve as terms of comparison, represents a crucial problem for Romanian society. The volume follows the history of this economic backwardness over more than five centuries. The analysis of older or newer Romanian realities is completed by comparison with other peripheral countries in Europe, especially with a group of three countries (Denmark, Ireland, Serbia) that in 1500 were at a similar level of (under)development to the Romanian Countries, but which subsequently evolved extremely differently. Their relative performance serves to better understand the constraints, achievements and failures in Romania's economic history. The conclusions bring numerous correctives to the prevailing image of Romania's economic past, as well as elements that verify or enrich some aspects of world theories about long-term economic development.