非正式产权与长期国家能力：来自纽芬兰地方政府的证据

摘要

This paper studies how informal property rights regimes that emerge in frontier environments shape the long-run development of local state institutions. I examine this question in the context of British colonial settlement on the island of Newfoundland. Early settlement relied on an informal property rights regime governing access to coastal infrastructure in the fishery. I measure historical exposure using geographic variation in proximity to flat coastline, which determined the location of early settlements and fishing sites. I show that greater exposure is associated with a lower likelihood that settlements established incorporated municipal governments during the twentieth century and increased reliance on weaker forms of local governance. Even among incorporated municipalities, historically exposed settlements were slower to adopt property taxation. Exposure is also associated with weaker formal property rights today, measured by higher rates of title conflict, and weaker political and civic engagement. These findings suggest that while informal institutions may effectively govern frontier economies, they can also discourage the long-run development of formal local state institutions.