Establishing economic property rights is a ubiquitous human activity that is key to the creation of wealth. Why the Rush? combines economic and historical analysis to argue that the institution of homesteading, as established in the US through the Homestead Act of 1862, was a method to establish meaningful, economic property rights on the American frontier. It explains how homesteading rushed millions of people into specific areas, established a meaningful sovereignty without the use of military force and became the means by which the US Thwarted military and legal challenges. Using fine-grained data, along with a detailed theoretical analysis and exhaustive institutional content, this book makes a serious contribution to the study of economic property rights and institutions providing the definitive analysis of the economics of homesteading and its role in American economic history.

‘Why the Rush provides a fresh and provocative understanding of the history of homesteading in the United States and Canada. Allen and Leonard combine the innovative use of new data sources with a path breaking application of the theory of the governance of newly settled lands. Their theoretical insights and empirical work makes this volume an important contribution to literature on homesteading.’

Peter J. Hill - Professor of Economics Emeritus, Wheaton College and Senior Fellow, Property and Environment Research Center

‘This fascinating book is a must read for students of North America’s colonization and settlement. Professors Allen and Leonard challenge conventional wisdom, including how to define ‘frontier,’ and show it was not the movement of troops that secured America’s West, but rather the movement of people. By combining rich historical data with detailed stories of individual families, the authors explain how homesteading granted ownership to rugged risk takers, and why that matters today.’

Dominic Parker - Anderson-Bascom Professor of Applied Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Ilene and Morton Harris Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution at Stanford University