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