A dominant paradigm these days in economics is “neo-institutionalism.” Pushed for decades by Douglass North (1920–2015; Nobel 1993) and now the orthodoxy at the World Bank. It says, like a recipe book, “Add institutions and stir.” Institutions such as sharecropping or land reform or modern courts are seen as causal. Much of the evidence is historical. Much of it is mistaken. My latest column for @folha....