Constitutional environments and economic growth / Gerald W. Scully.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Scully, Gerald W., author.

Series:

Princeton legacy library

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Economic development--Political aspects.

Economic development.

Civil rights--Economic aspects.

Civil rights.

State, The.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (258 pages) : illustrations.

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [1992]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In this provocative work, Gerald Scully develops and empirically tests a theory about how a nation's constitutional setting affects its economic growth. Modern growth theory links the rise in the standard of living to capital formation, both physical and human, and to technological progress, and development economists continue to believe that the transformation of the less developed world cannot occur without massive government control of the economy. Scully, on the other hand, maintains that material advancement is as much affected by the choice of the economic, legal, and political institutions under which people live and work as it is by resource endowment and technological progress. Nothing in the neoclassical theory of growth considers the "rules of the game" under which capital is accumulated and innovation is made. Redressing this neglect, Scully proposes ways of measuring the economic, civil, and political freedom within a society's institutional framework, and he reveals that freedom, or the lack thereof, powerfully and demonstrably influences not only economic progress but also income distribution. Politically open societies grow at nearly three times the rate of those where freedom is more circumscribed, and they also have a more equitable distribution of income. Finally, Scully measures the effect of the size of the state on economic progress, showing that the larger the amount of government expenditures out of gross domestic product, the lower the rate of economic progress.Originally published in 1992.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Figures and Tables

Preface

Acknowledgments

CHAPTER 1. Overview

CHAPTER 2. The Theory of Economic Growth and Economic Policy

CHAPTER 3. The Constitutional Setting and the Gains from Exchange

CHAPTER 4. A Theory of the Evolution of the Constitutional Setting

CHAPTER 5. Measures of Liberty

CHAPTER 6. The Choice of Law and the Extent of Liberty

CHAPTER 7. The Constitutional Setting and Economic Development

CHAPTER 8. The Constitutional Setting and the Distribution of Income

CHAPTER 9. The Economic Effect of the Size of the State

CHAPTER 10. What Is to Be Done? Reform of the Institutional Framework and Economic Policy for Progress

Notes

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 221-239) and index.

ISBN:

9780691605623

0691605629

9780691634555

0691634556

9781400862832

1400862833

OCLC:

889252384