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Politics and Property Rights

The Closing of the Open Range in the Postbellum South

Hardcover

Published: 25th April 1998
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After the American Civil War, agricultural reformers in the South called for an end to unrestricted grazing of livestock on unfenced land. They advocated the stock law, which required livestock owners to fence in their animals, arguing that the existing system (in which farmers built protective fences around crops) was outdated and inhibited economic growth. The reformers steadily won their battles, and by the end of the century the range was on the way to being closed.
In this original study, Kantor uses economic analysis to show that, contrary to traditional historical interpretation, this conflict was centered on anticipated benefits from fencing livestock rather than on class, cultural, or ideological differences. Kantor proves that the stock law brought economic benefits; at the same time, he analyzes why the law's adoption was hindered in many areas where it would have increased wealth. This argument illuminates the dynamics of real-world institutional change, where transactions are often costly and where some inefficient institutions persist while others give way to economic growth.

Acknowledgments
The Dynamics of Institutional Change: An Analytical Framework
The Economic Benefits of Livestock Enclosure
Translating Economic Interest into Action: Distributional Conflicts and the Dynamics of Institutional Change
Resolving the Distributional Conflicts
The Politics of Property Rights
Uncovering the Ideology of Property Rights Reform in the Postbellum South
Property Rights and Populists: The Political Consequences of Livestock Enclosure Epilogue: A Note on Institutional Change, Efficiency, and Democracy App. A: Procedure Used to Calculate Expected Savings from the Stock Law App. B: Data Appendix to Carroll and Jackson County Election Regressions
Notes
References
Index
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

ISBN: 9780226423753
ISBN-10: 0226423751
Series: Studies in Law & Economics
Audience: Professional
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Number Of Pages: 208
Published: 25th April 1998
Dimensions (cm): 27.8 x 15.3  x 1.9
Weight (kg): 0.481