Propagation of rule: a theory of economic success and stagnation -- The propagation of rule -- Historical origins of rule propagation -- Applying the theory: why the West got rich and the Middle East did not -- Bans on taking interest -- Restrictions on the printing press -- Printing & the...

We estimate calories available to workers' households in the USA, Belgium, Britain, France and Germany in 1890/1. We employ data from the United States Commissioner of Labor survey (see Haines, 1979) of workers in key export industries. We estimate that households in the USA, on average, had...

Industrialists and consolidation in Central Europe (1867-1914) -- Costly nationalism: industrialists on the eve of 1914 -- Millionaires of Mitteleuropa -- The enemy's money: economic retaliation in the First World War -- Profiting from victory: property transfers in the shadow of the 1918...