"Over the past two decades, social scientists have produced a large literature on the institutional determinants of development. Economists largely rely on transnational econometric studies and focus on the role of market-enhancing institutions, while political scientists and sociologists make their claims about the function of the market-displacing State as the major developer using case studies. More recently, scholars have begun to develop theories of institutional origins. This paper reviews three types of theories of State formation; arguments from war, arguments from colonialism, and arguments from economic sectors. No single approach appears definitive. The paper concludes by considering a number of synthetic approaches."