On November 20, 2013, Dr. P.J. Hill, co-author of The Not So Wild, Wild West, tells the true story of the old West on The Tom Woods Show. Rather than describing the frontier as a place where heroes met villains, this book argues that everyday people helped carve out legal institutions that tamed the West. Ownership of resources evolved as those resources became more valuable or as establishing property rights became less costly. It is an old story with a modern day lesson: rules evolving at the local level will be more effective because local people have a greater stake in the outcome.
