The long process of development : building markets and states in pre-industrial England, Spain, and their colonies / Jerry Hough, Duke University, Robin Grier, University of Oklahoma.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hough, Jerry F., 1935- author.

Grier, Robin M., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

State, The--Philosophy.

State, The.

Political development.

Economic development--United States--History--18th century.

Economic development.

Economic development--Mexico--History--18th century.

Great Britain--Politics and governmenty--1066-1485.

Great Britain.

Spain--Politics and government--To 1479.

Spain.

Great Britain--Colonies--America--Administration.

Spain--Colonies--America--Administration.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 448 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Douglass North once emphasized that development takes centuries, but he did not have a theory of how and why change occurs. This groundbreaking book advances such a theory by examining in detail why England and Spain developed so slowly from 1000 to 1800. A colonial legacy must go back centuries before settlement, and this book points to key events in England and Spain in the 1260s to explain why Mexico lagged behind the United States economically in the twentieth century. Based on the integration of North's institutional approach with Mancur Olson's collective action theory, Max Weber's theory of value change, and North's focus on dominant coalitions based on rent and military in In the Shadow of Violence, this theory of change leads to exciting new historical interpretations, including the crucial role of the merchant-navy alliance in England and the key role of George Washington's control of the military in 1787.

Contents:

The collective-action difficulties of creating an effective state

The pre-state of England and Spain: the importance of man-made geography

The early state in England and Spain

The minimally effective state: England, tax revenue, and colonization

Spanish colonial policy and the transition to the minimally effective state

A dominant coalition in transition: England and the rise of the merchant

navy alliance after 1600

The English colonies

Colonial Mexico

The collective-action problems of the formation of the United States

The collective-action problems of the formation of Mexico

The implications for development theory.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-316-05697-X

1-316-05460-8

1-316-08061-7

1-316-07588-5

1-107-67041-1

1-316-07115-4

1-107-47983-5

1-316-07825-6

1-316-07351-3