The top three questions in economics? When theory is confronted with history

Abstract

Three important economic questions have long remained unanswered, and this article explores the nature of these questions. They are: Why was the Great Depression so long and so deep? Why did the Industrial Revolution occur there and then? Why is the whole world not developed? This article gives reasons why these questions may be called the top three questions in economics, investigates the potential multi-disciplinary content of the topics, discusses the pieces of understanding that are still not in place, and makes a few speculations as to how, eventually, the questions may be answered.