557 Book Reviews suffers from gambling disorder—not unusual for abused dollars—use of a stolen $1,000 for gambling cannot automatically be assumed to transfer $1,000 of value to the compulsive-control- disorder-suffering thief. Casinonomics covers a topic that frst appeared on the contemporary American scene in the early 1990s. It is likely to continue for many years more. The unevenness of treatment between theoretical and empirical content of the present book, how- ever, suggests that readers may have to wait for the next book to learn the economics of casinos. References Australian Productivity Commission. 1999. Austra- lia’s Gambling Industries: Inquiry Report, Volume 3: Appendices. Canberra: Australian Productivity Commission. Grinols, Earl L. 2007. “Social and Economic Impacts of Gambling.” In Research and Measurement Issues in Gambling Studies, edited by Garry Smith, David C. Hodgins, and Robert J. Williams, 515–40. San Diego and London: Elsevier, Academic Press. Grinols, Earl L, and David B. Mustard. 2008. “Con- necting Casinos and Crime: More Corrections to Walker.” Econ Journal Watch 5 (2): 156–62. Jaret, Peter, and Bill Hogan. 2014. “A Desperate Gam- ble.” AARP Bulletin. January–February: 24–28. Ryan, Timothy P., and Janet F. Speyrer. 1999. Gam- bling in Louisiana: A Beneft/Cost Analysis. Baton Rouge: Louisiana Gaming Control Board. Thompson, W. N., and R. K. Schwer. 2005. “Beyond the Limits of Recreation: Social Costs of Gambling in Southern Nevada.” Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting, and Financial Management 17 (1): 62–93. Earl L. Grinols Distinguished Professor of Economics, Baylor University N Economic History Korean Political and Economic Development: Crisis, Security, and Institutional Rebalancing . By Jongryn Mo and Barry R. Weingast. Harvard East Asian Monographs, vol. 362. Cambridge: Harvard University Asia Center; distributed by Harvard University Press, 2013. Pp. xi, 218. $39.95. ISBN 978–0–674–72674–1. JEL 2013–1220 In their new book, Korean Political Development and Economic Development: Crisis Security and Institutional Rebalancing, Jongryn Mo and Barry Weingast explain why South Korea (hereafter the Republic of Korea) is among the few sustained examples of success in the develop- ing world. Readers familiar with their academic standing, earned from articulation of new con- cepts in rational choice political economy, have looked forward to this latest book. And indeed, it promises signifcant new insights. Employing a conceptual framework that Weingast designed with Douglass C. North and John Joseph Wallis, and which they refer to as NWW, the authors offer an explanation of how the Republic of Korea transformed itself into a rich industrialized and democratic nation, and suggest that the general argument fts other cases as well (2009). NWW classifes the properties of human soci- eties “into two categories of social order” that dif- fer according to their degree and extent of access. “Limited access orders” attain stability by making organizations, privileges, and rights the reserve of the few. But stability comes at a price: exchange is relationship-based and “gales of Schumpeterian creative destruction” are inhibited. In traditional societies, NWW notes with particular insight, rents are distributed to individuals and groups as incentives to cooperate in both the reduction of violence and the repression of technological or organizational innovations that might create opportunities to redistribute social assets. “Open access orders,” by contrast, do not require that citizens obtain political permission to organize, or to truck and barter, or to express their views. Rule-of-law institutions facilitate exchanges that are impersonal, allowing gains from specialization and trade. Importantly, for sustained growth, open access orders make reor- ganization or technological innovation feasible without violence. Hence, open access orders can sustain long periods of stability, whereas closed access orders are prone to violent decline. The main thesis of the book is the claim that a law of “double balance” brings economics and political freedom into equilibrium. There were three turning points that thrust the Republic of Korea on its path toward sustained growth in recent Korean history—Park Chung Hee’s mod- ernization of the fatherland from 1961 to 1979; the prefnancial democratic transition that took place from 1987 to 1997; and the postcrisis politi- cal reforms that occurred under Roh Moo Hyun