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ABSTRACTAccountable, democratic government is impossible assuming that the self‐interested, rational individuals of traditional economic theory are the only available citizens and officials. Approaching near realization of such a form of government, as occurred in parts of the world during recent generations, required reconfiguring autocratic states with the aid of the actual human impulses that underlie attraction to norms of fairness, capacities to cooperate, desire for social approval, and anger at norm violators. Increasing our understanding of how accountable government began to approach realization during the past two centuries may aid society in preserving and building on this still‐new political arrangement.

ABSTRACT**:  The facts that people can sometimes commit to fulfill promises even when there are no binding penalties and that kind and trusting acts are often reciprocated by trustworthy ones make possible forms of group action that might be ruled out in a hypothetical world of perfectly opportunistic individuals. I discuss some new experiments with a modified Berg,

Dickhaut and McCabe (1995)
'trust game' that provide evidence that most subjects adhere to non‐binding agreements, that many are prepared to rely on trust rather than use binding but moderately costly contracts, that the possibility of exchanging words rather than mere numerical proposals enhances trusting and trustworthiness, and that subjects are drawn to fair and efficient exchanges despite the self‐interest model's prediction of outcomes more favorable to first‐movers.

Are the effects of the Neolithic revolution still impacting on incomes across the world today? I find strong support for this proposition using new, country‐specific estimates of the timing of the agricultural transition and provide evidence that the differences are due to how technological diffusion is accounted for. A correction for world migrations since 1500 significantly improves the fit. Transition year also helps to explain income in 1500 itself, and an alternative measure of pre‐modern development, state history, has similar ability to predict income in 1500 and 1997.

The ever-greater roles played by markets and pecuniary incentives, and the increasing decision-making authority of localities, enterprises and individuals, have been central elements of China's economic reforms. Compared with these radical departures from the past, change in the area of property rights has been ambiguous. Depending on one's perspective, China might be seen as on its way to establishing a socialist market economy, in which public and collective ownership forms are predominant, or well along the path to a radical transformation of property rights, including a de facto private agriculture, massive private foreign investment, stock markets and the growth of private enterprise. What role property rights have played in the successes and problems of China's reforming economy is similarly debatable. The view that property rights have remained largely "social" leaves open interpretive possibilities ranging from the conclusion that China offers evidence of the viability of a market socialist option, to arguments that the transformation of property rights remains a major hurdle on the road to an economy that can support sustained growth. The quite different view that sectors experiencing substantial privatization have been the main contributors to the achievements of the reform economy, and that those maintaining public ownership have held back economic growth, is also taken by some.The nature of the property rights that have characterized China's economy during the years of economic reform, and the influence of property rights and property rights reform on the performance of the economy during that era are the subjects of this article.

According to the author, the evergreater roles played by markets and pecuniary incentives, and the increasing decision-making authority of localities, enterprises and individuals, have seen central elements of China's economic reforms. He sketches out and analyses the role of ownership and property rights in this country's economic transition paying special attention to the performances of the state-owned enterprises and private sector. (DÜI-Sen)