Description
Book SynopsisIn this provocative work, Gerald Scully develops and empirically tests a theory about how a nation's constitutional setting affects its economic growth. Modern growth theory links the rise in the standard of living to capital formation, both physical and human, and to technological progress, and development economists continue to believe that the t
Trade Review"Scully insists that the 'rules of the game' under which capital accumulates, technology advances, and incomes are distributed, are determined primarily by social, political, and legal institutions... His statistical data reveal that market-oriented, politically open economies grew almost three times faster, had more equitable distribution of income, and were two and one-half times more efficient in transforming their inputs into national output than their centrally controlled command counterparts."--Choice
Table of ContentsList of Figures and TablesPrefaceAcknowledgmentsCh. 1Overview3Ch. 2The Theory of Economic Growth and Economic Policy13Ch. 3The Constitutional Setting and the Gains from Exchange56Ch. 4A Theory of the Evolution of the Constitutional Setting80Ch. 5Measures of Liberty106Ch. 6The Choice of Law and the Extent of Liberty148Ch. 7The Constitutional Setting and Economic Development166Ch. 8The Constitutional Setting and the Distribution of Income184Ch. 9The Economic Effect of the Size of the State200Ch. 10What Is to Be Done? Reform of the Institutional Framework and Economic Policy for Progress212Notes221Index241
