Free trade between two countries (A and B) concentrates manufacturing, the invisibles (commerce, banking, shipping, insurance), capital, technology, and skills in A, the country that has an initial comparative advantage (however small) in manufacturing. Conversely, the country with a comparative...

This paper presents theory and evidence to show that imperialism was a major factor impeding the spread of the industrial revolution during the century ending in the 1950s. Two empirical results stand out. First, analysis of historical evidence shows that most sovereign countries were...

This paper summarizes the results of a book that examined the theory of the economic impact of colonialism, the economic policies pursued by colonial governments from 1800 to 1950, and the impact of these policies on economic growth, industrialization, literacy rates and stock of human capital...

This paper explores the potential for empirical analysis of corruption and countervailing action, based on data extracted from newspapers. Theoretical analysis suggests that when the press is free and competitive, it is likely to cover corruption and direct forms of countervailing action...

This note argues that the competitive paradigm of neoclassical economics breaks down in the presence of constant returns to scale (CRS). With CRS, all goods can be produced at identical costs by all economic agents, making self-production a feasible alternative to market production. In the...

This paper defines a new approach to measuring global disparities in development. Instead of comparing some characteristic, X, of development between people in rich and poor countries, we propose to compare X for people in poor countries against pets (of the mammalian kind) in rich countries....

This paper reviews the growing body of evidence on the relative economic standing of different regions of the world in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In general, it does not find support for Eurocentric claims regarding Western Europe's early economic lead. The Eurocentric...

The present system of tenure in American colleges – combined with a dramatic rise in the proportion of non-tenure-track faculty – has led to a near-closure of active markets for most tenured faculty. In turn, this produces two types of mismatches: some departments/colleges have faculty they...

An examination and critique of the functionalist literature on corruption in the political administration of less developed countries (LDCs) indicate that its claims are without empirical foundation. Its theses with regard to the political, economic and administrative effects in most LDCs...

It has often been argued that bribery creates auction-like conditions and, hence, improves allocative efficiency of bureaucratic decisions. This article shows that these auction-like conditions are not likely to exist because officials will restrict access to bribery in order to reduce the risks...