Political Economy of the American Frontier

Demonstrates why claim clubs are perhaps the most important explanation for the origins of and change in property institutions during an important period in American history.

List of contents

1. Introduction; Part I. The Origins of Property Institutions: 2. A theory of claim clubs; 3. From spontaneous order to conscious choice: claim clubs on the frontier; 4. Bandits within the state: an assessment of claim clubs as property institutions; Part II. Change in Property Institutions: 5. Claim clubs, distributive conflict, and the origins of squatters' rights; 6. The political economy of homesteads; 7. The open floodgate in the far West; 8. The influence of claim clubs in the States; 9. Conclusion.

About the author

Ilia Murtazashvili is currently an Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh. He holds a PhD in political science and an MA in agricultural and applied economics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Murtazashvili's research focuses on political economy and institutional design. He is the co-author, with Donald Alexander Downs, of Arms and the University: Military Presence and the Civic Education of Non-Military Students (Cambridge, 2012).

Summary

This book shows how claim clubs - informal governments established by squatters in each of the major frontier sectors of agriculture, mining, logging and ranching - substituted for the state as a source of private property institutions and how they changed the course of who received a legal title, and for what price, throughout the nineteenth century.

Product details

• Authors: Ilia Murtazashvili, Ilia (University of Pittsburgh) Murtazashvili, Murtazashvili Ilia
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 28.04.2016
• EAN: 9781107514775
• ISBN: 978-1-107-51477-5
• No. of pages: 302
• Series: Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions; Political Economy of Instituti; Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; USA, Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Economy, POLITICAL SCIENCE / American Government / General, HISTORY / United States / 19th Century, c 1800 to c 1900, 19th century, c 1800 to c 1899, Politics & government, 18th century, c 1700 to c 1799, Political Economy, United States of America, USA, Politics and government, History of the Americas