This book addresses the role of political institutions in economic performance, examining the changing state-economy relationships through a comparative history of political and economic development in Britain, USA, Russia, Japan, Taiwan and Korea.

Linda M. Weiss is an Australian professor of political science at the University of Sydney, specialising in the international and comparative politics of economic development. John Atkinson Hobson was an English economist, social scientist and critic of imperialism, widely popular as a lecturer and writer.