In canada, the best agricultural lands and timber resources are in the centre of the country. All 13 colonies i the united states face the seaboard, so any one of them could trade directly with england. The senate is an unelected, upper housea that initially senators serve for life. And they still actually, unlike the british house of lords, have veto power over legislation.
Charles Calomiris of Columbia University and Stephen Haber of Stanford University, co-authors of Fragile by Design: The Political Origins of Banking Crises and Scarce Credit, talk with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about their book. The conversation focuses on how politics and economics interact to give some countries such as Canada a remarkably stable financial system while others such as the United States have a much less stable system. The two authors discuss the political forces that explain the persistence of seemingly bad financial regulation. The conversation includes a discussion of the financial crisis of 2008.