Ryan Saylor
Biographic Data
| ID | 296668 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ryan Saylor |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ryan |
| FAMILY NAME | Saylor |
| SIGNATURE | SAYLOR R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Tulsa |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 39 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 10 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Why Causal Mechanisms and Process Tracing Should Alter Case Selection Guidance
Advice on case selection in small- N research emphasizes controlling for confounding variables to facilitate inferential tests of a cross-case pattern. Yet many researchers embrace the 'mechanismic worldview' and aim to construct explanations. Explanations differ from inferences because one explains an outcome at the individual case level. Hence, explanatory case studies are not simultaneously inferential tests, rendering prevailing case selectio…
Paying for War and Building States: The Coalitional Politics of Debt Servicing and Tax Institutions
Many scholars believe that intense warfare propelled state formation in early modern Europe because rulers built tax institutions to pay for wars. Scholars likewise cite milder geopolitical pressures to explain the lackluster state building in the developing world. The authors analyze episodes of ferocious warfare in and beyond Europe and find that despite similar fiscal strains, not all governments built strong tax institutions to service wartim…
Ethnic Entrepreneurs and Movements for New Administrative Units: Lessons from Nigeria
Many countries, especially in Africa, have increased their subnational administrative units in recent years. Researchers point to marginalized ethnic groups as a key force behind administrative subdivision. This article seeks to disentangle the relative influence of elites and the masses in prompting two movements for new administrative units in Nigeria (for Bayelsa and Ekiti states). I find that elites generated the movements, but not simply by …
State Building in Boom Times: Commodities and Coalitions in Latin America and Africa
Nationalist Politicians Squander State Building Opportunities while Fleecing Cocoa Exporters in Ghana, 1945–1966
Ghana missed state building opportunities during its postwar cocoa boom. Cocoa producers in Ghana’s cocoa heartland, Asante, were progressively marginalized by the British during decolonization, in lieu of a coalition with the leaders of a burgeoning urban nationalist movement. When cocoa producers requested public goods, the government ignored them, taxed cocoa wealth, and redistributed it as patronage to urbanites. This tendency intensified wit…
Exporters’ Marginalization and the Persistence of Nigeria’s Weak State, 1945–1966
Commodity booms, coalitional politics and government intervention in credit markets
Scholars of the 'resource curse' increasingly agree that strong institutions can help countries avoid the pitfalls associated with abundant natural resource wealth. This paper argues that certain political coalitions can serve a similar function in the context of weak institutions. To explicate this argument, this paper examines how international commodity booms regularly create credit demand that surpasses available supply, often impelling expor…
Concepts, Measures, and Measuring Well: An Alternative Outlook
Measurement theorists agree that one has measured well when one's measurement scheme faithfully represents the concept under investigation. Yet, the conventional wisdom on 'measurement validation' pays surprisingly little attention to conceptual meaning and instead emphasizes measurement error and the pursuit of true scores. Researchers are advised to adopt an empiricist stance; treat data as objective facts; and confer validity through predictiv…
Probing the historical sources of the Mauritian miracle: Sugar exporters and state building in colonial Mauritius
Scholars increasingly agree that the ‘Mauritian Miracle’ was enabled by the country's significant level of state capacity. This article probes Mauritius's state-building past to identify the early sources of Mauritian state capacity. Specifically, I find that the close collaboration between the island's export-oriented sugar planters, known as the Franco-Mauritians, and colonial officials accounts for the growth of Mauritian state capacity during…
Sources of state capacity in Latin America: Commodity booms and state building motives in Chile
Concepts, Measures, and Measuring Well: An Alternative Outlook
Measurement theorists agree that one has measured well when one's measurement scheme faithfully represents the concept under investigation. Yet, the conventional wisdom on 'measurement validation' pays surprisingly little attention to conceptual meaning and instead emphasizes measurement error and the pursuit of true scores. Researchers are advised to adopt an empiricist stance; treat data as objective facts; and confer validity through predictiv…
Sources of state capacity in Latin America: Commodity booms and state building motives in Chile
Paying for War and Building States: The Coalitional Politics of Debt Servicing and Tax Institutions
Many scholars believe that intense warfare propelled state formation in early modern Europe because rulers built tax institutions to pay for wars. Scholars likewise cite milder geopolitical pressures to explain the lackluster state building in the developing world. The authors analyze episodes of ferocious warfare in and beyond Europe and find that despite similar fiscal strains, not all governments built strong tax institutions to service wartim…
Why Causal Mechanisms and Process Tracing Should Alter Case Selection Guidance
Advice on case selection in small- N research emphasizes controlling for confounding variables to facilitate inferential tests of a cross-case pattern. Yet many researchers embrace the 'mechanismic worldview' and aim to construct explanations. Explanations differ from inferences because one explains an outcome at the individual case level. Hence, explanatory case studies are not simultaneously inferential tests, rendering prevailing case selectio…
Probing the historical sources of the Mauritian miracle: Sugar exporters and state building in colonial Mauritius
Scholars increasingly agree that the ‘Mauritian Miracle’ was enabled by the country's significant level of state capacity. This article probes Mauritius's state-building past to identify the early sources of Mauritian state capacity. Specifically, I find that the close collaboration between the island's export-oriented sugar planters, known as the Franco-Mauritians, and colonial officials accounts for the growth of Mauritian state capacity during…
Commodity booms, coalitional politics and government intervention in credit markets
Scholars of the 'resource curse' increasingly agree that strong institutions can help countries avoid the pitfalls associated with abundant natural resource wealth. This paper argues that certain political coalitions can serve a similar function in the context of weak institutions. To explicate this argument, this paper examines how international commodity booms regularly create credit demand that surpasses available supply, often impelling expor…
Probing the historical sources of the Mauritian miracle: Sugar exporters and state building in colonial Mauritius
Scholars increasingly agree that the ‘Mauritian Miracle’ was enabled by the country's significant level of state capacity. This article probes Mauritius's state-building past to identify the early sources of Mauritian state capacity. Specifically, I find that the close collaboration between the island's export-oriented sugar planters, known as the Franco-Mauritians, and colonial officials accounts for the growth of Mauritian state capacity during…
Sources of state capacity in Latin America: Commodity booms and state building motives in Chile
Commodity booms, coalitional politics and government intervention in credit markets
Scholars of the 'resource curse' increasingly agree that strong institutions can help countries avoid the pitfalls associated with abundant natural resource wealth. This paper argues that certain political coalitions can serve a similar function in the context of weak institutions. To explicate this argument, this paper examines how international commodity booms regularly create credit demand that surpasses available supply, often impelling expor…
Concepts, Measures, and Measuring Well: An Alternative Outlook
Measurement theorists agree that one has measured well when one's measurement scheme faithfully represents the concept under investigation. Yet, the conventional wisdom on 'measurement validation' pays surprisingly little attention to conceptual meaning and instead emphasizes measurement error and the pursuit of true scores. Researchers are advised to adopt an empiricist stance; treat data as objective facts; and confer validity through predictiv…
State Building in Boom Times: Commodities and Coalitions in Latin America and Africa
Nationalist Politicians Squander State Building Opportunities while Fleecing Cocoa Exporters in Ghana, 1945–1966
Ghana missed state building opportunities during its postwar cocoa boom. Cocoa producers in Ghana’s cocoa heartland, Asante, were progressively marginalized by the British during decolonization, in lieu of a coalition with the leaders of a burgeoning urban nationalist movement. When cocoa producers requested public goods, the government ignored them, taxed cocoa wealth, and redistributed it as patronage to urbanites. This tendency intensified wit…
Exporters’ Marginalization and the Persistence of Nigeria’s Weak State, 1945–1966
Ethnic Entrepreneurs and Movements for New Administrative Units: Lessons from Nigeria
Many countries, especially in Africa, have increased their subnational administrative units in recent years. Researchers point to marginalized ethnic groups as a key force behind administrative subdivision. This article seeks to disentangle the relative influence of elites and the masses in prompting two movements for new administrative units in Nigeria (for Bayelsa and Ekiti states). I find that elites generated the movements, but not simply by …
Paying for War and Building States: The Coalitional Politics of Debt Servicing and Tax Institutions
Many scholars believe that intense warfare propelled state formation in early modern Europe because rulers built tax institutions to pay for wars. Scholars likewise cite milder geopolitical pressures to explain the lackluster state building in the developing world. The authors analyze episodes of ferocious warfare in and beyond Europe and find that despite similar fiscal strains, not all governments built strong tax institutions to service wartim…
Why Causal Mechanisms and Process Tracing Should Alter Case Selection Guidance
Advice on case selection in small- N research emphasizes controlling for confounding variables to facilitate inferential tests of a cross-case pattern. Yet many researchers embrace the 'mechanismic worldview' and aim to construct explanations. Explanations differ from inferences because one explains an outcome at the individual case level. Hence, explanatory case studies are not simultaneously inferential tests, rendering prevailing case selectio…
Political science (9 works) · Economics (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Politics (6 works) · Economy (5 works) · Political economy (5 works) · Boom (4 works) · Engineering (4 works) · Geography (4 works) · African history and culture studies (3 works)