From a newly minted Nobel prize winner, Joel Mokyr.
Slowly, and perhaps not always quite perfectly, British formal institutions adapted. But the same was true for private-order institutions: the rather sudden rise of country banks in the second half of the 18th century illustrates the high degree of adaptiveness of private-order British institutions; they were not coordinated or supervised by some central authority, and no political revolution was necessary to bring them into existence. Yet once the circumstances were suitable and opportunities arose, these banks emerged almost ab nihilo. They replaced the informal activities of local merchants, notaries, and attorneys who had previously intermediated in credit transactions.
This natural and spontaneous progression of credit extension brought real estate ownership to the greater populace.
Read his insights at Ideas Mattered, But So Did Institutions.
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