Douglass North once emphasized that development takes centuries, but he did not have a theory of how and why change occurs. This groundbreaking book advances such a theory by examining in detail why England and Spain developed so slowly from 1000 to 1800. A colonial legacy must go back centuries...

H.J. Habakkuk, a bibliography -- Introduction / F.M.L. Thompson -- English and French landowners, 1688-1789 / P.K. O'Brien and D. Heath -- A world elsewhere / J.R.T. Hughes -- The decline of the small landowner in England and Wales, 1660-1900 / J.V. Beckett -- Henry Hoare, banker, his family and...