This article uses a case study to illustrate the dynamics of firm structure and property rights in Brazil during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The St. John D'el Rey Mining Company was a British mining company in Brazil. Its experiences demonstrate that, property rights were not...

Acknowledgements; List of Figures and Tables; Note on the Text; Introduction; 1. Historical Setting; 2. Minerals, the Subsoil and Property Law; 3. Iron and Gold in Pre-Industrial Brazil; 4. The Subsoil as Private Property; 5. Industrializing Iron Ore; 6. Minerals and the Formation of Economic...