Common Law, as practiced around the world, permits what it doesn't prohibit. Compared to Roman Law practice, which prohibits what it doesn't permit, the Common Law makes economic innovation easy. Easy economic innovation, in turn, promotes rapid economic adaptation -- broad technological...

Would the movement of capital from to poor countries greatly increase, if the commitment to protecting property and allowing capital to move freely were more credible? This paper asks whether the British Empire provided global public goods that supported large-scale development finance before...