Making Commercial Law Through Practice, 1830–1970. By Ross Cranston. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021. Pp. 483. $112.28, hardcover; $32.50, ebook.

differ in virtually everything, not only with respect to population density. The case studies miss important details and propose inappropriate generalizations. The passage on Chile entirely omits Rothschilds, the world’s premier bank, whose select hall of clients happened to include the Chilean government. Moreover, Japan’s domestic debt was far from an exception; Brazil and Russia—to quote two gigantic countries—also had large home markets for public bonds. Finally, the chapter on case studies compresses history when suggesting the causality between fiscal capacity in the past and wealth today. Japan and Chile were poorer than Argentina until the 1960s and 1990s, respectively. These countries would not have been such convenient cases had the book been written decades ago. The case studies are likely to dismay historians wary of big cross-country theories. The book may also alienate economists for whom foreign finance plays a role in smoothing consumption and promoting development. Nevertheless, Queralt’s work has the merit of addressing important questions with brilliant quantitative research. What is more, by testing a state model with primary data, Queralt builds a solid bridge between political science and economic history.