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 …

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 …

Data recently published in PNAS mapped out regional differences in the tightness of social
norms across China [RYJ Chua, KG Huang, M. Jin, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 116, 6720 …

We develop a theory of the accumulation of state capacity as the outcome of a political
competition between elites and (civil) society. State capacity is accumulated by elites, and it …

How social networks shaped the imperial Chinese state China was the world's leading
superpower for almost two millennia, falling behind only in the last two centuries and now …

Patterns of state formation have crucial implications for comparative economic development.
Diamond (1997) famously argued that “fractured land” was responsible for China's tendency …

How did representative institutions become the central organs of governance in Western
Europe? What enabled this distinctive form of political organization and collective action that …

Autocrats use repression to deter opposition. Are they successful in the long run? The author
argues that state repression can have long-lasting alienating effects on citizens' political …

Does pre-colonial history—and in particular the role of interstate warfare—help explain long-
run development patterns across India? To address this question, we construct a new …

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 …