Pillars of Prosperity: The Political Economics of Development Clusters

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"Little else is required to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism, but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice; all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things." So wrote Adam Smith a quarter of a millennium ago. Using the tools of modern political economics and combining eco

Timothy Besley is the School Professor of Economics and Political Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Torsten Persson is the Torsten and Ragnar Soderberg Chair in Economic Sciences and professor of economics at the Institute for International Economic Studies, Stockholm University.

Honorable Mention for the 2011 PROSE Award in Economics,s, Association of American Publishers "This is a fascinating set of questions, and Pillars of Prosperity will be essential reading for other researchers in this area."--Diane Coyle, Enlightened Economist "Besley and Persson have written a book that seeks to bring weak and fragile states into mainstream economic analysis... [I]f you wish to model the fiscal capacity of various nations, or their legal capacity, or political violence ... this is an ideal place to start... This is a marvelous book."--Daniel Bromley, American Journal of Agricultural Economics