Is the traditional logic by which violent conflict fosters long-run political development
universal? To help address this question, this article compares Europe with China. While …

A dive into the origins, management, and uses and misuses of sovereign debt through the
ages. Public debts have exploded to levels unprecedented in modern history as …

This monograph provides an overview of research into disasters from a historical
perspective, making two new contributions. First, it introduces the field of 'disaster studies' to …

State capacity-the government's ability to accomplish its intended policy goals-plays an
important role in market-oriented economic development today. Yet state capacity …

Can decentralization of political powers increase trust in government? We present quasi-
experimental evidence from Ukraine where political trust has been among the lowest levels …

In this chapter, I consider the benefits of viewing history through an evolutionary lens. In
recent decades, a field of research has emerged, which builds on foundations from …

This article reviews the literature on the multifaceted consequences of historical conflict. We
revisit three key topics, which are especially relevant for the current Ukrainian context.(1) …

We argue that institutions are bundles that involve trade-offs in the government's ability to
provide public goods that affect public health. We hypothesize that the institutions underlying …

When the Dutch Celebrate their king's birthday—King's Day, on April 27, a national holiday—
they don't dance in the streets or drink themselves into a stupor (although that can also …

Although today's richest countries tend to have long histories of secure private property
rights, legal-titling projects do little to improve the economic and political well-being of those …