"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 economic theory with a bird's-eye view of
the data, this book reinterprets Smith's pillars of prosperity to
explain the existence of development clusters--places that tend to
combine effective state institutions, the absence of political
violence, and high per-capita incomes.
To achieve peace, the authors stress the avoidance of
repressive government and civil conflict. Easy taxes, they argue,
refers not to low taxes, but a tax system with widespread
compliance that collects taxes at a reasonable cost from a broad
base, like income. And a tolerable administration of justice is
about legal infrastructure that can support the enforcement of
contracts and property rights in line with the rule of law. The
authors show that countries tend to enjoy all three pillars of
prosperity when they have evolved cohesive political institutions
that promote common interests, guaranteeing the provision of public
goods. In line with much historical research, international
conflict has also been an important force behind effective states
by fostering common interests. The absence of common interests
and/or cohesive political institutions can explain the existence of
very different development clusters in fragile states that are
plagued by poverty, violence, and weak state capacity.
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