Understanding Long-Run Economic Growth: Geography, Institutions, and the Knowledge Economy

Book

Understanding Long-Run Economic Growth

Geography, Institutions, and the Knowledge Economy

Edited by: Dora L. Costa and Naomi R. Lamoreaux

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2011

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This book is in the series

National Bureau of Economic Research Conference Report

About this book

The conditions for sustainable growth and development are among the most debated topics in economics, and the consensus is that institutions matter greatly in explaining why some economies are more successful than others over time. Probing the long-term effects of early colonial differences on immigration policy, land distribution, and financial development in a variety of settings, Understanding Long-Run Economic Growth explores the relationship between economic conditions, growth, and inequality, with a focus on how the monopolization of resources by the political elite limits incentives for ordinary people to invest in human capital or technological discovery. Among the topics discussed are the development of credit markets in France, the evolution of transportation companies in the United Kingdom and the United States, and the organization of innovation in the United States.

Author / Editor information

Dora L. Costa is professor of economics at the University of California, Los Angeles; associate director of the California Population Research Center; and a research associate and director of the Cohort Studies Working Group at the NBER. Naomi R. Lamoreaux is professor of economics and history at Yale University; professor of economics, history, and law at the University of California, Los Angeles; a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and a research associate of the NBER.

Reviews

“This volume should be in all research libraries. The authors are experts in their areas and their chapters either shine new light on important issues or succinctly summarize what is already known. More personally, this book reminded me of why I find economic history so exciting.”

— Journal of Economic Issues

Topics

Business and Economics Political Economics Political Economics, other

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction Dora L. Costa and Naomi R. Lamoreaux Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	1
1. Once Upon a Time in the Americas: Land and Immigration Policies in the New World Stanley L. Engerman and Kenneth L. Sokoloff Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	13
2. The Myth of the Frontier Camilo García-Jimeno and James A. Robinson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	49
3. Differential Paths of Financial Development: Evidence from New World Economies Stephen Haber Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	89
4. Political Centralization and Urban Primacy: Evidence from National and Provincial Capitals in the Americas Sebastian Galiani and Sukkoo Kim Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	121
5. History, Geography, and the Markets for Mortgage Loans in Nineteenth- Century France Philip T. Hoffman, Gilles Postel-Vinay and Jean- Laurent Rosenthal Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	155
6. Two Roads to the Transportation Revolution: Early Corporations in the United Kingdom and the United States Dan Bogart and John Majewski Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	177
7. Premium Inventions: Patents and Prizes as Incentive Mechanisms in Britain and the United States, 1750– 1930 B. Zorina Khan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	205
8. The Reorganization of Inventive Activity in the United States during the Early Twentieth Century Naomi R. Lamoreaux, Kenneth L. Sokoloff and Dhanoos Sutthiphisal Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	235
9. Mass Secondary Schooling and the State: The Role of State Compulsion in the High School Movement Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F. Katz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	275
10. The Impact of the Asian Miracle on the Theory of Economic Growth Robert W. Fogel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	311
11. Ken Sokoloff and the Economic History of Technology: An Appreciation Joel Mokyr Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	355
12. Kenneth Sokoloff on Inequality in the Americas Peter H. Lindert Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	363
13. Remembering Ken, Our Beloved Friend Manuel Trajtenberg Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	373
Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	375
Author Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	377
Subject Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	385

Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

August 10, 2011

eBook ISBN:

9780226116426

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

Main content:

400

Other:

27 line drawings, 69 tables

https://doi.org/10.7208/9780226116426

eBook ISBN: 9780226116426

Keywords for this book

economic growth; economy; geography; development; finance; inequality; land distribution; immigration policy; credit markets; innovation; discovery; technology; human capital; investment; incentives; resources; monopoly; nonfiction; economics; transportation companies; france; england; united kingdom; britain; frontier; urban; centralization; history; mortgage loans; debt; patents

Audience(s) for this book

Professional and scholarly;

Understanding Long-Run Economic Growth

Overview

About this book

Author / Editor information

Reviews

Topics

Table of contents

Bibliographic data