New Books in Economics Avner Greif et al., "Two Paths to Prosperity: Culture and Institutions in Europe and China, 1000–2000" (Princeton UP, 2025)
Apr 2, 2026
Guido Tabellini, Intesa Sanpaolo Chair in Political Economics and Bocconi University leader, explores why Europe surged ahead of China. He contrasts European corporations like guilds and monasteries with Chinese clan networks. Short, sharp takes cover culture vs geography, how organizations shaped cooperation, and why these paths affected innovation and state power.
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Great Reversal Explained By Institutions And Culture
- The Great Reversal names how China went from leading to lagging over a millennium due to institutional and cultural divergence.
- Guido Tabellini links political centralization and social organization to long-run economic outcomes, not a single cause.
European Corporations Grew From Church‑Shaped Nuclear Families
- Europe solved local public-good needs via associations of unrelated people—corporations—shaped by the Church's promotion of nuclear families.
- Corporations (monasteries, guilds, self-governing towns) overlapped and created norms for cooperation beyond kin.
Chinese Clans Sustained Cooperation Through Kin Altruism
- Chinese social organization centered on patrilineal clans reinforced ancestor worship and strong within-family altruism.
- Clans supplied dispute resolution, ritual, trade and public goods but lacked formal contractual enforcement used by European corporations.
