“…So far, some have reassessed the role of the state as capable of overcoming coordination failures and as a provider of public goods (Bardhan, ; Mosley, ), and have called for further analysis of state institutions. Others have advanced the theory of mechanisms leading to the formation effective states (Besley and Persson, , ; Besley and Robinson, ; Acemoglu et al ., ) or to their collapse (for example, Collier, ), or have analysed the likely trade‐off between the high taxation of strong states and the under provision of public goods and infrastructure of states with limited capacity to tax (Acemoglu, ). While its analysis of the role of the state has a long and distinguished tradition, this paper contributes to its revival of interest by critically examining some aspects of the recent literature, mainly examining empirical issues, starting with the measurement of its most significant capacities.…”