The Long Term Political Economy and History Reading Group meets every week during Fall 2013. It is chaired by David Stasavage. Below I list papers we have read so far. Links are provided where available. Papers are grouped under loosely defined weekly topics.
1. Property Rights and Growth
Was Weber Right? The Role of Urban Autonomy in Europe’s Rise by David Stasavage
2. Patronage
a) Corruption, Machine Politics, and Political Change by James Scott
b) Patronage or Merit? Bureaucratic Recruitment in 19th and Early 20th Century Europe by James Hollyer
c) Merit Recruitment in 19th and Early 20th Century European Bureaucracies by James Hollyer
3. Trade
a) The Enlargement of the Great Council of Venice by Frederic C. Lane
b) International Trade and Institutional Change: Medieval Venice’s Response to Globalization by Diego Puga and Daniel Trefler
4. Ungoverned Spaces
a) Why Ungoverned Space? A Political Economy Approach by Eli Berman (white paper)
b) Local Powers and a Distant State in Rural Central African Republic by Thomas Bierschenk and Jean-Pierre Olivier de Sardan (1993, The Journal of Modern African Studies)
c) Living in Ungoverned Space: Pakistan’s Frontier Crimes Regulation by Michael Callen, Saad Gulzar, Yasir Khan, Arman Rezaee, Jacob Shapiro (research note)
5. Ethnic Politics and Trade
Trade, Institutions, and Ethnic Tolerance: Evidence from South Asia by Saumitra Jha (forthcoming, APSR)
6. Contract Enforcement
a) The Role of Institutions in the Revival of Trade: The Law Merchant, Private Judges, and the Champagne Fairs by Paul Milgrom, Douglas North and Barry Weingast (1990, Economics and Politics)
b) What lessons for economic development can we draw from the Champagne fairs? by Jeremy Edwards and Sheilagh Ogilvie (2012, Explorations in Economic History)
c) “Markets and Fairs” Chapter 3 in The Cambridge Economic History of Europe from the Decline of the Roman Empire. Eds M. M. Postan, E. E. Rich and E. Miller.
7. Origins of the State I
a) Land Reform, the Market for Protection, and the Origins of the Sicilian Mafia: Theory and Evidence by Oriana Bandiera (2003, JLEO)
b) Poor Institutions, Rich Mines: Resource Curse and the Origins of the Sicilian Mafia by Paolo Buonanno, Ruben Durante, Giovanni Prarolo and Paolo Vanin
7. Origins of the State II
a) Dictatorship, Democracy, and Development by Mancur Olson (1993, APSR)
b) Warlords, Militia and Conflict in Contemporary Africa: A Re‐examination of Terms by Alice Hills (1997, Small Wars & Insurgencies)
c) On the Origin of States: Stationary Bandits and Taxation in Eastern Congo by Raul Sanchez de la Sierra