Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Evolution of a Nation (Daniel Berkowitz & Karen Clay, 2011)

Undoubtedly the most academic book I've read (and probably will read) all year, and for that reason fell a bit short of my expectations. The central premise of the book is fascinating but the quantitative reasoning was far beyond my education. One needs a fairly advanced grasp of statistical mathematics to appreciate the tables presented in the book, though with careful attention to the narrative, the graphs are useful in illustrating the evidence and findings presented.

Basically stated, the authors make a very compelling case that initial legal and geographical conditions (e.g. rainfall, distance to water) have an impact on legislative competitiveness in a given state. Hopefully the findings can be incorporated into future works for wider audiences.

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