Family businesses, have been instrumental in the industrialization of most countries and remain an important dimension of modern economies world wide. Yet analyses of international differences in Western micro- and macroeconomic performance, since the late nineteenth century, have usually been focused upon the rise and capabilities of the American-style business corporation. In this context, while family business has not been without its champions, these firms were often dismissed as inferior alternatives to managerial capitalism and the source of economic decline. As a result they have received, until comparatively recently, less attention than they deserve. This collection of essays which spans more than forty years of scholarship on family business is not confined to the discussion of Western firms. Instead contributions cover their role, capabilities and performance on four continents and include the work of leading institutional and development economists and sociologist as well as business and economic historians.