For over a century England's judicial system decided land disputes by ordering disputants' legal representatives to bludgeon one another before an arena of spectating citizens. People called these combats trials by battle. This paper investigates the law and economics of trial by battle. In a feudal world where high transaction costs confounded the Coase theorem, this paper argues that trial by battle allocated disputed property rights efficiently.

This paper asks whether capitalism is "contagious" and, if it is, whether it spreads more strongly or weakly than democracy. It finds that capitalism spreads more strongly than democracy but that its spread rate is similar.

According to a popular view the author terms “two cheers for capitalism,” capitalism’s effect on development is ambiguous and mixed. This paper empirically investigates that view and finds that it’s wrong.

Media, Development, and Institutional Change investigates mass media’s profound ability to affect institutional change and economic development. The authors use the tools of economics to illuminate the media’s role in enabling and inhibiting political-economic reforms that promote development.