TY - JOUR
T1 - Degredados, their human agency, and micro institutions in colonial Brazil
T2 - An institutionalist reinterpretation
AU - Zanella, Fernando
AU - Westley, Christopher
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Journal of Economic Issues/Association for Evolutionary Economics.
PY - 2015/3/1
Y1 - 2015/3/1
N2 - Institutions are widely recognized as determinants of economic development. However, institutional economists often overlook pertinent historical incidents in their search for broad patterns. At times, this search oversimplifies truly complex phenomena. In light of this, we apply a micro-institutional analysis to explain the success of colonial Brazil's early settlements as a mix of accident and design. By doing so, we stress the limitations that can result when applying an aggregate institutional interpretation of economic history and development. We also apply the principal-agent model and its main feature - risk-sharing - to an extreme case that involves settlers and natives risking their lives, while Portuguese principals sought to reduce transaction costs in an important and resource-rich colony.
AB - Institutions are widely recognized as determinants of economic development. However, institutional economists often overlook pertinent historical incidents in their search for broad patterns. At times, this search oversimplifies truly complex phenomena. In light of this, we apply a micro-institutional analysis to explain the success of colonial Brazil's early settlements as a mix of accident and design. By doing so, we stress the limitations that can result when applying an aggregate institutional interpretation of economic history and development. We also apply the principal-agent model and its main feature - risk-sharing - to an extreme case that involves settlers and natives risking their lives, while Portuguese principals sought to reduce transaction costs in an important and resource-rich colony.
KW - Colonial Brazil
KW - Economic history
KW - Institutions
KW - Micro-institutional economics
KW - Principal-agent
KW - Social economics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84941368910&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1080/00213624.2015.1013884
DO - 10.1080/00213624.2015.1013884
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84941368910
SN - 0021-3624
VL - 49
SP - 143
EP - 156
JO - Journal of Economic Issues
JF - Journal of Economic Issues
IS - 1
ER -