Political institutions and financial development / Stephen Haber -- Political institutions and financial development: evidence from the political economy of bank regulation in Mexico and the United States / Stephen Haber -- The political economy of early U.S. financial development / Richard Sylla -- Answering Mary Shirley's question, or: what can the World Bank learn from American history? / John Joseph Wallis -- Beyond legal origin and checks and balances: political credibility, citizen information, and financial sector development / Philip Keefer -- The microeconomic effects of different approaches to bank supervision / James R. Barth -- Political drivers of diverging corporate governance patterns / Peter Gourevitch and James Shinn -- Credible commitment and sovereign default risk: two bond markets and imperial Brazil / William R. Summerhill -- Legal origin vs. the politics of creditor rights: bond markets in Brazil, 1850-2002 / Aldo Musacchio -- Conclusions: economics, political institutions, and financial markets / Douglas C. North and Mary M. Shirley.