In retrospect the 1960s may be identified as a period of major innovation in maritime transport. The ever-increasing size of bulk carriers and the unitisation of general cargo are trends which are clearly gaining in momentum and which will leave few ports unaffected. The time is therefore...

This paper studies the persistent impact of good institutions on economic development in China. By exploiting a British-driven institutional switch in part of China's customs stations in 1902, I find that counties that were more affected by the British customs institutions are also better...

Many countries in Africa and Asia have coastlines that present opportunities for them to become gateways for trade between the hinterlands and global trading routes. However, policy makers struggle to translate this potential into engines of economic development and social transformation. In the...