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Divergent Paths: How Culture and Institutions Have Shaped North American Growth

Amazon.com Price:  $19.99 (as of 23/04/2019 06:31 PST- Details)

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Description

Why are some countries without an apparent abundance of natural resources, such as Japan, economic success stories, even as other languish within the doldrums of slow growth. On this comprehensive take a look at North American economic history, Marc Egnal argues that culture and institutions play an integral role in determining economic outcome. He focuses his examination at the eight colonies of the North, five colonies of the South (which together made up the original thirteen states), and French Canada. The use of census data, diaries, travelers’ accounts, and current scholarship, Egnal systematically explores how institutions (such as slavery within the South and the seigneurial system in French Canada) and cultural arenas (such as religion, literacy, entrepreneurial spirit, and intellectual activity) influenced development. He seeks to reply to why three societies with an identical standards of living in 1750 became so dissimilar in development. By the mid-nineteenth century, the northern states had surged ahead in growth, and this gap continued to widen into the twentieth century. Egnal argues that culture and institutions allowed this growth within the North, not resources or government policies. Both the South and French Canada stressed hierarchy and social order more than the drive for wealth. Rarely have such parallels been drawn between these two societies. Complete a lot of helpful appendices, figures, tables, and maps, Divergent Paths is a wealthy source of unique perspectives on economic development with strong implications for emerging societies.

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