Link of the Month: Luigi and Raghuram Do It Again

Few academic economists possess the historical eye and dab prose hand of Luigi Zingales and Raghuram Rajan. In a preliminary version of a paper about to appear in the Journal of Financial Economics, this erstwhile pair tests an abstruse model of the interaction of financial and trade openness in national economies. Their model is opaque and its conclusions, far from clear-cut.

No matter. The last quarter of the piece’s text—roughly pages 29 through 40—provides a beautiful overview of the economic history of the twentieth century with particular emphasis on the differences between common law nations (roughly, the U.S. and Great Britain) and civil law nations (just as roughly, everyone else). If you’ve ever wondered just why the twentieth century was such a pistol or why the French body politic and economy don’t look like ours, you’ll find it all here.

Copyright © 2003, William J. Bernstein. All rights reserved.

The right to download, store and/or output any material on this Web site is granted for viewing use only. Material may not be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of William J. Bernstein. Reproduction or editing by any means, mechanical or electronic, in whole or in part, without the express written permission of William J. Bernstein is strictly prohibited. Please read the disclaimer.