It has been over 50 years now since John Hajnal first pointed out the existence of a “European Marriage Pattern” (EMP). Who’d have thought that behavior most often associated with modern societies – late age at first marriage, neolocality (the formation of a separate household at marriage), and large proportions of never-married persons – could … Continue reading The Medieval Church and Western European Marriage Patterns
Many of us who study institutions are convinced they matter because we can see them. We observe the obstacles they create for people trying to improve their lives. We can document the ways in which they restrict choices, create opportunities for rent-seeking elites, and deprive many people of formal recourse against the predatory practices of … Continue reading A Good Institution Is Hard To Find
Institutions are a common theme at Broadstreet. Many of us study how institutions have shaped political, economic, and social outcomes in the past. We are interested in different aspects of this problem and we use different approaches. The friction between these produces some sparks, but we needn’t get too distracted by the more adversarial aspects … Continue reading History and Institutions: It’s Complicated
by Tracy Dennison and Scott Gehlbach Scott: Tracy, this is the first post at Broadstreet for both of us. Welcome! Tracy: And welcome to you! It feels a bit like cheating to make the first post a shared effort, but it’s very much in the interdisciplinary spirit of the blog itself. Scott: A historian … Continue reading An Interdisciplinary Conversation