WHY THE RUSH?
AN INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS OF HOMESTEADING AND THE SETTLEMENT OF THE WEST
DOUGLAS ALLEN AND BRYAN LEONARD
COMMENTS BY DOMINIC PARKER
OCTOBER 23, 2024

View the lecture here.

Douglas Allen and Bryan Leonard discuss their forthcoming book, Why The Rush? An Institutional Analysis of Homesteading and the Settlement of the West. The book will be published as part of the Ronald Coase Institute series on new institutional economics with Cambridge University Press.

Allen and Leonard argue that homesteading was an efficient means for the U.S. government to establish economic property rights over lands that were contested by others. They develop this theory and test it using the universe of land patents issued from 1862 to 1934. They explain the general pattern of settlement over time and space; show the connection of homesteading to the South and Reconstruction, railroads, and Indian land allotment; examine the special cases of Oklahoma and Canada; determine the long run impacts; and present a new definition of “the frontier” based on the idea of weak property rights. 

Following the authors' talks, Dominic Parker discusses the book. Questions from the audience conclude the lecture.

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  Douglas Allen

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  Bryan Leonard

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  Dominic Parker

About the Speakers

Douglas Allen is Burnaby Mountain Professor of Economics at Simon Fraser University. Bryan Leonard is associate professor of environmental and natural resource economics at the University of Wyoming. Dominic Parker is the Anderson-Bascom Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.