Our purpose here is to challenge the "big-bang" approach to economic history in which some alleged institutional imposition - a deus machine - is claimed to launch a series of new economic behaviors. This so-called prime mover is then carried forward by the inexorable forces of path dependency...

Past population dynamics in Africa have remained largely elusive due to the lack of demographic data. Researchers are understandably deterred from trying to explain what is not known and African historical population estimates suffer from this lack of interest. In this paper I explain present...

The main purpose of this book is to explain Mexico's substandard economic activity by applying the foundational factors approach primarily to Mexico and, for purposes of comparison, secondarily to the United States. The argument is that, unlike the United States, Mexico has been shaped by an...