The study of entrepreneurship often focuses on the activities of the entrepreneur. While entrepreneurship is undertaken by individuals, the degree to which individuals are entrepreneurial, and the directions in which their entrepreneurial actions take, are the result of the institutional...

Why do some democracies persist while others break down? Some studies have suggested that economic development decreases the likelihood of authoritarian reversal, which is consistent with Milton Friedman's argument that economic freedom is necessary for political freedom. An empirical...

One frequently given explanation for why autocrats maintain corrupt and inefficient institutions is that the autocrats benefit personally even though the citizens of their countries are worse off. The empirical evidence does not support this hypothesis. Autocrats in countries with low-quality...

A substantial body of literature concludes that nations that maintain market institutions and have limited governments have higher economic growth rates and higher per capita incomes. This conclusion goes back at least to Adam Smith (1937 [1776]), and includes historical studies by Mokyr (1990)...