Institutional Change and Economic Development

Ha-Joon Chang, Ed.

Institutional Change and Economic Development
Ha-Joon Chang, Ed.

ISBN 978-92-808-1143-8
paper; 330 pages
US$38.00 September 2007

The issue of institutional development has come to prominence during the last decade or so. During this period, even the IMF and the World Bank, which used to treat institutions as mere 'details', have come to emphasize the role of institutions in economic development. However, there are still some important knowledge gaps that need to be filled before we can say that we have a good grip on the issue of institutions and economic development, both theoretically and at the policy level. This book is an attempt to fill these gaps.

Recognizing the complexity of the issues involved, this book draws together contributions from scholars in economics, history, political science, sociology, public administration and business administration. These experts discuss not only theoretical issues but also a diverse range of real-life institutions – political, bureaucratic, fiscal, financial, corporate, legal, social and industrial – in the context of dozens of countries across time and space – spanning from Britain, Switzerland and the USA in the past to today's Botswana, Brazil and China. The contributors show that there is no simple formula for institutional development. Instead, real-life experiences of institutional development have been achieved through a mixture of deliberate imitation of foreign institutions and local institutional innovations.

While arguing there is no set formula for institutional development, this book will assist developing countries to improve their institutions by providing sophisticated theoretical discussions and helpful policy ideas based on real-life cases.

Ha-Joon Chang is the Reader in the Political Economy of Development at the Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge, UK.

Institutional change and economic development: an introduction
Ha-Joon Chang

Part I: Theoretical Overview

Understanding the relationship between institutions and economic development – some key theoretical issues
Ha-Joon Chang
Extending the 'institutional' turn: property, politics and development trajectories
Peter Evans
Institutionalism ancient, old, and new: a historical perspective on institutions and uneven development
Erik Reinert

Part II: Evolution of Particular Institutions

Modern bureaucracy
John Toye
Central banks as agents of economic development
Gerald Epstein
Corporate governance, innovative enterprise, and economic development
William Lazonick
The political economy of taxation and tax reform in developing countries
Jonathan di John
The rule of law, legal traditions, and economic growth: the East Asian example
Meredith Jung-En Woo

Part III: Country Experiences

State formation and the construction of institutions for the first industrial nation
Patrick Karl O'Brien
The role of Federalism in Developing the US during nineteenth-century globalization
Eric Rauchway
Institutions and economic growth: the successful experience of Switzerland, 1870–1950 221
Thomas David and André Mach
The rise and halt of economic development in Brazil, 1945–2004: industrial catching-up, institutional innovation and financial fragility
Leonardo Burlamaqui, José A. P. de Souza and Nelson H. Barbosa-Filho
Rethinking import-substituting industrialization: development strategies and institutions in Taiwan and China
Tianbiao Zhu
Developmental nationalism and economic performance in Africa: the case of three 'successful' African economies
Julius Kiiza

◊◊◊

Page last modified 2019.04.16.

Top