Understanding the Relationship between Institutions and Economic Development: Some Key Theoretical Issues

The paper tries to improve our understanding on the role of institutions in development by critically examining the current orthodox discourse on institutions and highlighting some of its key problems. After discussing some definitional problems, the chapter examines a number of problems in the orthodox literature arising from the widespread failure to distinguish between the forms and the functions of institution. Then it critically examines the excessive emphasis on property rights in the orthodox literature. Finally, it discusses a number of problems that arise from the simplistic view on institutional change that underlies the orthodox view on institutional persistence.institutions, forms and functions, institutional change, property rights

Stranger than Fiction? Understanding Institutional Changes and Economic Development

The volume Institutional Change and Economic Development fills some important gaps in our understanding of the relationship between institutional changes and economic development. It does so by developing new discourses on the 'technology of institution building' and by providing detailed case studies-historical and more recent-of institution building. It is argued that functional multiplicity, the importance of informal institutions, unintended consequences, and intended 'perversion' of institutions all imply that the orthodox recipe of importing 'best practice' formal institutions does not work. While denying the existence of universal formulas, the volume distills some general principles of institutions building from theoretical explorations and case studies.institutions, history, property rights, markets, ideas, technology, law, governance, bureaucracy, federalism,

State-Owned Enterprise Reform

This United Nations Policy Note on State-Owned Enterprise Reform provides practical guidance on alternative policies to reform SOEs and manage natural resource rents. This Policy Note has been developed in cooperation with UN agencies, and has been officially reviewed by distinguished academics/ development specialists such as Jose Antonio Ocampo, Jomo K.S. and Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz.state-owned enterprises, management natural resource rents, development planning

Industrial policy in East Asia: Lessons for Europe

This paper critically examines the role of industrial policy in the economic development of East Asian countries with a view to drawing lessons for other countries, especially European ones. It describes the evolution of industrial policies in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore and evaluates the East Asian industrial policy experience - in general and in relation to the East Asian miracle, the 1997 financial crisis, and the Japanese stagnation since the 1990s. In drawing lessons for other countries, the paper discusses the transferability of the 'East Asian model' - or any other economic model - to other countries and highlights the determinants of industrial policy successes and failures. A key conclusion is that there is scope for successful industrial policy even in countries that have reached the technological frontier and want to push it further

Understanding the relationship between institutions and economic development: Some key theoretical issues

The paper tries to improve our understanding on the role of institutions in development by critically examining the current orthodox discourse on institutions and highlighting some of its key problems. After discussing some definitional problems, the chapter examines a number of problems in the orthodox literature arising from the widespread failure to distinguish between the forms and the functions of institution. Then it critically examines the excessive emphasis on property rights in the orthodox literature. Finally, it discusses a number of problems that arise from the simplistic view on institutional change that underlies the orthodox view on institutional persistence

Institutions of Macroeconomic Management History, Theory, and Practice

This paper demonstrates that institutions matter for the macro-economy a great deal, and therefore that we need to explicitly incorporate institutional factors in macroeconomic theory. It draws extensively on the history of the development of institutions of macroeconomic management in today's developed countries while Chang's ultimate interest is the role of institutions in the macroeconomic management in developing countries. Note: The opinions expressed in these papers represent those of the author(s) and not The Initiative for Policy Dialogue. These papers are unpublished and have not been peer reviewed. Please do not cite without explicit permission from the author(s)

Industrial policy and East Asia

노트 : a revised version of the paper presented at the World Bank workshop on “Re-thinking East Asian Miracle” San FranciscoUSA, 16-7 February 199