In the Middle Ages women in the Italian Alps had substantially more rights on collective properties than in the Modern Age. The documental evidence shows a progressive erosion of women's rights and a convergence toward gender-biased inheritance systems. We tracked the evolution of inheritance...

Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Modern fencing -- Urban spaces -- Caging people : from schools to prisons -- Thinking inside the box -- Corporations as greed machines -- Globalization and empire -- Manufacturing disposable people -- The real tragedy of the commons -- What is to be done? --...

The purpose of this essay is to argue that process-regarding preferences or social norms are pervasive in traditional village communities, yet are subject to gradual erosion under the influence of new forces, particularly population growth and market penetration. This is illustrated with respect...