Conventional economic wisdom predicts that free and competitive international trade should cause economies GDP to converge over the long run. Empirical evidence of sixteen developed countries suggests that the countries did converge in terms of labour productivity over the period of 1870 to...

The hypothesis that economic freedom and related variables are significant determinants of real per capita income and growth is critically evaluated. Economic freedom is found necessary for higher levels of per capita income and growth largely in terms of threshold effects as opposed to...

A key objective of this book is to show that (p. vii) "plain economic history can help pick out the more durable of the arrangements that favour growth." He argues that the conditions favoring long run growth are largely political and include competitive markets, free trade, decentralized...