 Historical research is the natural way to test such a theory, and his recent work has therefore focused on the application of institutional theory to business history and economic history.This led him to undertake a major study of Victorian British entrepreneurship - the building of the railway system through private enterprise - which is the subject of one of his most recent books.Mark Casson is one of the founder members of the Reading School of International Business, a worldwide network of economists established in the 1970s at the University of Reading, England, which has been influential in changing public perceptions of the costs and benefits of multinational enterprises and foreign direct investment.