Politics and Property Rights

The Closing of the Open Range in the Postbellum South

Shawn Everett Kantor author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:The University of Chicago Press

Published:16th Mar '98

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Politics and Property Rights cover

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to fence in their animals, arguing that the existing system (in which farmers built protective fences around crops) was outdated and inhibited economic growth.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 study Shawn Kantor uses economic analysis to assert that contrary to traditional historical interpretation, this conflict was centered on anticipated benefits from fencing livestock rather than on class, cultural or ideological differences. The text seeks to show that the stock law brought economic benefits; and at the same time analyzes why the law's adoption was hindered in many areas where it would have increased wealth. Kantor's 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.

ISBN: 9780226423753

Dimensions: 23mm x 16mm x 2mm

Weight: 482g

198 pages