The world is becoming more and more urbanized at every income level, and there has been
a dramatic increase in the number of mega-cities in the developing world. This has led …

Where does the state come from? Two canonical answers have been interstate wars and
contracts between rulers and the ruled in the early modern period. New scholarship has …

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 …

Religious freedom has become an emblematic value in the West. Embedded in constitutions
and championed by politicians and thinkers across the political spectrum, it is to many an …

This paper challenges the long-standing belief that changes in patterns of war and war
making caused the emergence of large territorial states. Using new data describing the …

Abstract 'State capacity'is a term associated with a popular argument in fiscal sociology,
history, and political economy regarding the role of the state in the process of economic …

Political borders profoundly influence outcomes central to international politics. Accordingly,
a growing literature shows that historical boundaries affect important macro-outcomes such …

For many younger and lower-income people, housing affordability continues to worsen.
Based on the academic research of two distinguished housing economists–and stimulated …

Holy Land Crusades were among the most significant forms of military mobilization to occur
during the medieval period. Crusader mobilization had important implications for European …

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 …