The Evolution of a Nation: How Geography and Law Shaped the American States

(Hardback)

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Based on evidence about the development of the American states from the mid-nineteenth to the late twentieth century, this book documents the mechanisms through which geographical and historical conditions - such as climate, access to water transportation, and early legal systems - impacted political and judicial institutions and economic growth.

Reviews

"In this book, economists Berkowitz and Clay use variation across U.S. states as a sort of historical economic laboratory. Drawing on a wide array of quantitative and qualitative data sources, they lay out and document the connections among a number of geographic and climatic characteristics and the extent of political competition that emerged in each state... This is an important contribution to the literature on institutional economics, economic history, and economic development."--Choice "Berkowitz and Clay deserve considerable credit for taking up the difficult challenge of applying the ES (Engerman-Sokoloff) and AJR (Acemoglu-Johnson-Robinson) approach to the experience of U.S. states. Certainly anyone else contemplating something similar will need to study this book very carefully because they will have to grapple with some of the same issues faced by the authors. The book is timely, well written, and the authors have amassed an interesting body of data."--Robert A. Margo, EH.Net "Berkowitz and Clay build a compelling empirical case for their broad argument... The Evolution of a Nation is an important and useful work, one that will be of interest to economists, historians, and political scientists with an interest in American political and economic development."--Thomas Oatley, Journal of Regional Science "The strength of The Evolution of a Nation lies in the collected historical and recent data. All these are sufficiently displayed on charts, graphs, appendices, which cover over eighty pages in the body of the book. The meticulously written introduction and overview provide a methodological model to those for ongoing research. Complying with the expectations of the authors, the book stands at the intersection between economics, history, law and politics and can be beneficial within the classroom setting of these disciplines at undergraduate and graduate levels. Furthermore, as it presents stimulating discussions and raises new questions about law, legal intuitions, economic growth, it can be a reference book for the years to come in historical and sociological studies."--N. Sibel Guzel, European Journal of American Studies

Author Bio

Daniel Berkowitz is professor of economics at the University of Pittsburgh. Karen B. Clay is associate professor of economics at Carnegie Mellon University.