Abstract: Champions of capitalism and right-wing theorists of culture typically blame American Indian reservations’ economic woes on tribes’ historical aversion to market principles and on present-day federal policies that impose socialism on them. These arguments suggest capitalism as a simple rule to improve prospects for economic development in Indian country. We argue that the simple rule is not capitalism but polycentricity: greater tribal autonomy to choose the rules to govern tribal economies. One of the legacies of imperialism is that the primary governance challenge in Indian country today is that relations among the tribal and federal governments are monocentric, with Congress asserting nearly unlimited authority over tribes. This reduces the ability of tribal governments to experiment with rules to improve tribal economies and tribal governance more generally. Thus, debates about capitalism or socialism in Indian country miss the mark. Progress toward a more meaningful polycentric governance regime is especially critical because of the complicated nature of the economic challenges on many Indian reservations.