We identify the major public debt overhang episodes in the advanced economies since the early 1800s, characterized by public debt to GDP levels exceeding 90 percent for at least five years. Consistent with Reinhart and Rogoff (2010) and most of the more recent research, we find that public debt...

The Great Depression ushered in a long era of deglobalization that lasted for many decades. An old conventional wisdom (e.g. Polanyi) argues that the common aspect of this shock across all countries, a deep depression, can explain the large and persistent global shift away from orthodox liberal...

Roger King and Gavin Kendall bring into one book three important concepts dear to political scientists: the state, democracy and globalization. Their book is a good introduction to these topics for both experts and laymen alike. The book is divided into ten chapters the first three of which,...

The configuration and context of business at the global level is transforming with the growing need for sustainability coupled with growth. The intensified competition, consumer expectations, governance imperative and natural resource crunch have driven corporate leadership to synthesize their...

This chapter summarizes the case for considering money as a legal institution. The Western liberal tradition, represented here by John Locke’s iconic account of money, describes money as an item that emerged from barter before the state existed. Considered as an historical practice, money is...

This paper investigates the empirical role of violent conflicts for the causal effect of democracy on economic growth. Exploiting within-country variation to identify the effect of democratization during the 'Third Wave', we find evidence that the effect of democratization is weaker than...

The structural transformation of the Indian economy from agriculture (primary sector) dominated to one led by the services sector (tertiary sector), bypassing the intermediate stage of manufacturing (secondary sector) led growth, offers an alternative to conventional theories of economic...

Since its inception, supporters of the Jones Act have claimed that the law is essential to U.S. national security. Although indefensible on economic grounds, Jones Act advocates argue that its restrictions promote the development of both a U.S. merchant marine and shipbuilding and repair...

This paper investigates the impact of trade protectionism in the form of tariff barriers on Spanish goods exports. The Spanish economy has signicantly increased its degree of openness, which improves potential economic growth, but also implies a higher exposure to the protectionist shift in the...

To unravel the roots of the relationship between the Individualism-Collectivism dimension of culture (IC) and market-supporting institutions, we develop a micro-founded model in which the two interact and coevolve. IC and institutions are related indirectly, via social organization: Individuals...