Economists have been increasingly interested in empires, institutions, and economic growth in recent decades. The result has been a much better understanding of institutional development throughout history, as well as a greater recognition of how those processes led to states of development today. Yet, historians have often accused economists of oversimplification and a lack of nuance. As Yun-Casalilla argues in this well-researched, sprawling history, economists have consistently been wrong on the matter of Iberian empires. Some of them view empires as a natural source of economic growth, whereas others cite the overseas empires of Spain and Portugal as impediments to the two countries’ economic and political development. Neither of these viewpoints reflect what historians know to be true about these two empires, namely, that far from being historical anomalies, they had nation-building processes similar to those of other empires, like Germany or Italy.
Any generalization of the Iberian empires is...