The authors of this timely and provocative book use the tools of economic analysis to examine the formation and change of political borders. They argue that while these issues have always been at the core of historical analysis, international economists have tended to regard the size of a country as exogenous, or no more subject to explanation than the location of a mountain range or the course of a river. Alesina and Spolaore consider a country's borders to be subject to the same analysis as any other man-made institution. In The Size of Nations they argue that the optimal size of a country is determined by a cost-benefit trade-off between the benefits of size and the costs of heterogeneity. In a large country, per capita costs may be low, but the heterogeneous preferences of a large population make it hard to deliver services and formulate policy. Smaller countries may find it easier to respond to citizen preferences in a democratic way. Alesina and Spolaore substantiate their analysis with simple analytical models that show how the patterns of globalization, international conflict, and democratization of the last two hundred years can explain patterns of state formation. Their aim is not only normative but also positive - that is, not only to compute the optimal size of a state in theory but also to explain the phenomenon of country size in reality.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
MIT Press Ltd
ISBN-13
9780262511872
eBay Product ID (ePID)
96075093
Product Key Features
Subject Area
Political Science
Author
Enrico Spolaore, Alberto Alesina
Publication Name
The Size of Nations
Format
Paperback
Language
English
Subject
Economics, Geography & Geosciences
Publication Year
2005
Type
Textbook
Number of Pages
272 Pages
Dimensions
Item Height
229mm
Item Width
152mm
Item Weight
386g
Additional Product Features
Title_Author
Enrico Spolaore, Alberto Alesina
Series Title
The MIT Press
Country/Region of Manufacture
United States
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