This paper explores the role of state capacity in the comparative economic development of China and Japan. Before 1850, both nations were ruled by stable dictators who relied on bureaucrats to govern their domains. We hypothesize that agency problems increase with the geographical size of a...

We develop a principal-agent model to study fiscal capacity in pre-modern China and Japan. Before 1850, both nations were ruled by stable dictators who relied on bureaucrats to govern their domains. We hypothesize that agency problems increase with the eographic size of a domain. In a large...

We develop a principal-agent model to study fiscal capacity in pre-modern China and Japan. Before 1850, both nations were ruled by stable dictators who relied on bureaucrats to govern their domains. We hypothesize that agency problems increase with the geographic size of a domain. In a large...

<Para ID="Par1">This paper explores the role of state capacity in the comparative economic development of China and Japan. Before 1850, both nations were ruled by stable dictators who relied on bureaucrats to govern their domains. We hypothesize that agency problems increase with the geographical size of a...</para>

This paper argues that China's size was one reason behind its relative decline in the nineteenth century. A ruler governing a large country faces severe agency problems. Given his monitoring difficulties, his agents have strong incentives to extort the taxpayers. This forces him to keep taxes...

Das Wirtschaftswachstum eines Landes hängt immer stärker von dessen Innovationsfähigkeit ab. Ohne ein leistungsfähiges und international vernetztes Innovationssystem wird Deutschland den zunehmenden Herausforderungen im Zuge der Globalisierung immer weniger gewachsen sein. Über die...

Das Wirtschaftswachstum eines Landes hängt immer stärker von dessen Innovationsfähigkeit ab. Ohne ein leistungsfähiges und international vernetztes Innovationssystem wird Deutschland den zunehmenden Herausforderungen im Zuge der Globalisierung immer weniger gewachsen sein. Über die...

Large private enterprises in the ASEAN-5 economies have been, and remain, dominated by firms that share four common characteristics: (1) their ownership and control are concentrated among a handful of prominent business families; (2) most of these families have Chinese origins; (3) each family...