Property Rights and Indian Economies

Most research on American Indian economies seeking to explain why Indians have remained near the bottom of the economic ladder has concentrated on resource endowments. This approach has focused policy attention on creating government programs to expand resource exploitation either by encouraging non-Indians to develop reservation resources or by directly enhancing reservation physical and human capital stocks. However, these policies have ignored institutions and the important role of local customs and privileges. This book explicitly considers this institutional context and focuses on the rules that determine who controls physical and human resources and who benefits from their use. Applying the analytical tools from economics, law, anthropology, and political science, the authors consider the three main ingredients necessary for successful economies: stable government, minimal bureaucracies, and the rule of law.