This chapter surveys the historical evidence on the role of institutions in economic growth
and points out weaknesses in a number of stylized facts widely accepted in the growth …

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 …

Historical accounts of democracy's rise tend to focus on ancient Greece and pre-
Renaissance Europe. The Decline and Rise of Democracy draws from global evidence to …

The Great Divergence brings new insight to one of the classic questions of history: Why did
sustained industrial growth begin in Northwest Europe, despite surprising similarities …

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 …

Why are some parts of the world so rich and others so poor? Why did the Industrial
Revolution--and the unprecedented economic growth that came with it--occur in eighteenth …

A quest to explain institutional change that gave rise to a new economic order is complex
and challenging. This book reports the results of a six-year (2005–2011) study that aims to …

For centuries following the spread of Islam, the Middle East was far ahead of Europe. Yet,
the modern economy was born in Europe. Why was it not born in the Middle East? In this …

We construct a simple model where political elites may block technological and institutional
development, because of a “political replacement effect.” Innovations often erode elites' …

In his bestselling The Moral Animal, Robert Wright applied the principles of evolutionary
biology to the study of the human mind. Now Wright attempts something even more …