Research Catalog

The evolution of a nation : how geography and law shaped the American states

Title
The evolution of a nation : how geography and law shaped the American states / Daniel Berkowitz and Karen B. Clay.
Author
Berkowitz, Daniel.
Publication
Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, ©2012.

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StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
TextUse in library JFE 15-176Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315

Details

Additional Authors
Clay, Karen
Description
x, 234 pages : illustrations, maps; 24 cm.
Summary
Although political and legal institutions are essential to any nation's economic development, the forces that have shaped these institutions are poorly understood. Drawing on rich evidence about the development of the American states from the mid-nineteenth to the late twentieth century, this book documents the mechanisms through which geographical and historical conditions--such as climate, access to water transportation, and early legal systems--impacted political and judicial institutions and economic growth. The book shows how a state's geography and climate influenced whether elites based their wealth in agriculture or trade. States with more occupationally diverse elites in 1860 had greater levels of political competition in their legislature from 1866 to 2000. The book also examines the effects of early legal systems. Because of their colonial history, thirteen states had an operational civil-law legal system prior to statehood. All of these states except Louisiana would later adopt common law. By the late eighteenth century, the two legal systems differed in their balances of power. In civil-law systems, judiciaries were subordinate to legislatures, whereas in common-law states exhibit persistent differences in the structure of their courts, the retention of judges, and judicial budgets. Moreover, changes in court structures, retention procedures, and budgets occur under very different conditions in civil-law and common-law states.
Series Statement
The Princeton economic history of the western world
Uniform Title
Princeton economic history of the Western world.
Subjects
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (pages 203-221) and index.
Contents
Legal initial conditions -- Initial conditions and state political competition -- The mechanism -- State courts -- Legislatures and courts -- Institutions and outcomes.
Call Number
JFE 15-176
ISBN
  • 9780691136042 (hardcover : alk. paper)
  • 0691136041 (hardcover : alk. paper)
LCCN
2011014585
OCLC
711643698
Author
Berkowitz, Daniel.
Title
The evolution of a nation : how geography and law shaped the American states / Daniel Berkowitz and Karen B. Clay.
Imprint
Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, ©2012.
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Series
The Princeton economic history of the western world
Princeton economic history of the Western world.
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 203-221) and index.
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Table of contents
Table of contents.
Added Author
Clay, Karen
Research Call Number
JFE 15-176
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