Indigenous Nations and the Development of the US Economy: Land, Resources, and Dispossession

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: University of Colorado System; University of Colorado Boulder; University of Victoria; University of Bonn; IZA Institute Labor Economics; University of Bonn; University of British Columbia
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050722000080
• 发表日期: 2022
• 页码: 516-555
• 关键词: PROPERTY-RIGHTS; institutions; persistence; population; landscape; AMERICA; HISTORY; TREATY; WORLD; price

摘要

Abundant land and strong property rights are conventionally viewed as key factors underpinning U.S. economic development success. This view relies on the Pristine Myth of an empty undeveloped land, but the abundant land of North America was already made productive and was the recognized territory of sovereign Indigenous Nations. We demonstrate that the development of strong property rights for European/American settlers was mirrored by the attenuation and increasing disregard of Indigenous property rights. We argue that the dearth of discussion of the dispossession of Indigenous nations results in a misunderstanding of some of the core themes of U.S. economic history.