This review article examines the development of state capacity—the extractive and
productive power of states—in European history. To explain the historical evolution of state …

Why did the industrial revolution take place in eighteenth-century Britain and not elsewhere
in Europe or Asia? In this convincing new account Robert Allen argues that the British …

Developed countries are the exception, not the rule. Billions of dollars of aid and countless
hours of advice notwithstanding, most countries have not been able to foster sustained …

An increasingly popular view holds that institutions--in particular, the rule of law--are the
keys to unlocking the developing world's full growth potential. But what exactly does this …

Markets rest upon institutions. The development of market-based exchange relies on the
support of two institutional pillars that are, in turn, shaped by the development of markets …

An econometric model of economic development is estimated with data from leading
European countries between 1300 and 1800. The model explores the impact of population …

Old Regime polities typically suffered from fiscal fragmentation and absolutist rule. By the
start of World War I, however, many such countries had centralized institutions and limited …

EARL HAMILTON observed many years ago that a'national debt is one of the very few
important economic phenomena without roots in the Ancient World'. 1 The first evidence for …

Britain had a unique wage and price structure in the eighteenth century, and that structure is
a key to explaining the inventions of the industrial revolution. British wages were very high …

One of the biggest debates in economic history deals with the Great Divergence. How can
we explain that at a certain moment in time (the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries) a …