Canonical studies of the origins of state capacity have focused on macro-historical or
structural explanations. I review recent research in historical political economy that …

This paper highlights the importance of endogenous changes in the foundations of
legitimacy for political regimes. It focuses on the central role of legitimacy changes in the rise …

Computing power, or" compute," is crucial for the development and deployment of artificial
intelligence (AI) capabilities. As a result, governments and companies have started to …

The legal system is a meta-institution. It spells out the formal rules of the game and how they
are enforced. Social scientists are interested in the question “How well does it function?” …

We study the impact of a large-scale administrative reform on state capacity in the Spanish
empire in the Americas. During the late 18th century, the Spanish Crown entirely overhauled …

We present empirical evidence on the relationship between military spending and the
expansion of other government budget items and tax revenues from the unification of Italy …

The consolidation of power under a strong central authority has important long-term
economic and political consequences (see, eg, Boone 1994; Mamdani 1996; Lange 2004; …

A long-standing scholarship argues that greater ethnic diversity harms social cohesion.
However, recent research also suggests that these outcomes are primarily influenced by the …

Fiscal capacity is regularly linked to warfare and democratization. However, the majority of
income taxes–a cornerstone of government finance–were introduced by non-democratic …

This paper examines the impact of ultraviolet radiation (UV‐R) on state capacity. The results
indicate that the intensity of UV‐R is a strong predictor of cross‐country differences in state …