Modern developed nations are rich and politically stable in part because their citizens are free to form organizations and have access to the relevant legal resources. Yet in spite of the advantages of open access to civil organizations, it is estimated that eighty percent of people live in...

British general incorporation law granted companies an extraordinary degree of contractual freedom to craft their own governance rules. It provided companies with a default set of articles of association, but incorporators were free to reject any part or all of the model and write their own...

Intro -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction / Naomi R. Lamoreaux and John Joseph Wallis -- 1. The East Indian Monopoly and the Transition from Limited Access in England, 1600-1813 / Dan Bogart -- 2. Adam Smith's Theory of Violence and the Political Economics of Development / Barry R....