Scholarly discussions on economic development in history, specifically those linked to industrialization or modern economic growth, have paid great attention to the formation and development of the market economy as a set of institutions able to augment people's welfare. The role of specific...

Social vulnerability due to insufficient income and earnings may come from many sources, both demographic and economic, in a globalizing world. This paper examines the problems of population aging, low wages, growing inequality, and insufficient social spending. Vulnerable groups such as...

Achieving France's medium-term fiscal targets will require significant expenditure efforts. This paper identifies areas where there is scope for increasing expenditure efficiency, with a view to achieving higher quality and more sustainable fiscal consolidation. The methodology is based on a...

"This volume compares early modern efforts to provide "public goods" defined as non-market mediated goods not limited to personal relations such as kinship. We examine poverty and famine relief, infrastructure, and forestry in East Asia and Europe, using Japan's Tokugawa era (1603-1868) as a...

In many ways, the European welfare state constituted a response to the new forms of social fracture and economic turbulence that were born out of industrialization-challenges that were particularly acute for groups whose integration into society seemed the most tenuous. Covering a range of...