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Comparative Economics in Historical Perspective

Presidential Address for the 2018 Association for Comparative Economic Studies Meetings

Comparative Economic Studies volume 60, pages 475–501 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

This paper presents evidence showing that there have been since antiquity two opposed types of institutional systems: one resembling central planning and present in ancient China, ancient Egypt, the Inca Empire and other territorial states, and another one with strong market institutions, protection of property rights present mostly in city-states not just in the Mediterranean but throughout the world. A new database documenting these diverse institutional clusters from the antiquity is described and their links analyzed.

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Notes

  1. See Finer (1997) for the most complete description of political institutions so far.

  2. Keightley (2013) documents much earlier periods than Greif and Tabellini, describing clearly institutions in as early as the Shang dynasty.

  3. For example, the Philippines did not really have state formation before Spanish colonization. This is also the case for some African tribes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UC Berkeley, Berkeley, USA

    Gerard Roland

  2. CEPR, London, UK

    Gerard Roland

  3. NBER, Cambridge, USA

    Gerard Roland

Authors
  1. Gerard Roland
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Correspondence to Gerard Roland.

Additional information

I am very grateful to Li Duan, Yunhao Zhang, Yue Ma and especially Shaoyu Liu for excellent research assistance.

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Roland, G. Comparative Economics in Historical Perspective. Comp Econ Stud 60, 475–501 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41294-018-0076-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41294-018-0076-2

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