ABSTRACT

This book reÀects our common interest in looking at property rights through the lenses of social history and sociology, in order to discuss the mainstream theory of new institutional economics and the derived grand narrative of economic development. The ¿rst steps leading to the book were prompted by the leitmotiv of the XVIth World Economic History Conference held in Stellenbosch, South Africa in July 2012, entitled ‘The roots of economic development’. Most, though not all, of the following chapters started out as papers discussed in a conference session that we convened there on ‘Property rights in land: Institutional innovations, social appropriations and path dependence’. We invited Samuel Garrido and Iñaki Iriarte and Jose-Miguel Lana to contribute their chapters at a later stage, in order to broaden the outlook on the management, appropriation and privatization of commons.