ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses that Alexander Salter complements the insights of Boettke and Palagashvili by building a theory of constitutional drift and political dysfunction that explains the transformation of governments in Europe and the United States. It begins the empirical examination of changes in economic freedom by looking broadly at how institutional change occurs. The book examines the very long-run determinants of current economic freedom. It also examines the evolution of economic freedom across countries from 1980 to 2010. The book discusses what other initial conditions can lead to greater convergence in levels of freedom, finding that higher levels of education and a greater ability to exit a political jurisdiction lead to greater convergence. It describes how freedom creates beneficial spontaneous orders that promote development with how the coercion employed by planners leads to detrimental spontaneous orders that undermine economic development.
