This paper provides an analytic review of selected contributions to the study of institutions and economic growth. We review the contributions to the study of institutional determinants of long-run growth by Engerman and Sokoloff, and Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson. We discuss the work of Rodrik...

This paper analyzes periods of economic stagnation in a panel of countries. We test if stagnation episodes are predicted by institutional factors and external/internal shocks, as is implied by recent theoretical contributions, and compare the impacts of these variables with those of traditional...

This paper defines economic slumps as a sequence of structural breaks exhibiting a specific pattern. We identify 58 such episodes between 1950 and 2008 among a large sample of countries, and then examine the phases of decline. In several countries declines last extremely long, and we suggest...

Despite having a low exposure to the toxic assets involved in the sub-prime crisis and a gradualist approach towards liberalization of the financial sector, certain parts of the Indian financial sector were significantly affected by the global financial crisis. The consequent tightening of...

Despite having a low exposure to the toxic assets involved in the sub-prime crisis and a gradualist approach towards liberalization of the financial sector, certain parts of the Indian financial sector were significantly affected by the global financial crisis. The consequent tightening of...

Numerous studies have tried to explain the poor growth performance of the Philippines. This paper critically reviews related literature on constraints to long-run growth, as it applies to the Philippines. We evaluate several factors, namely : culture; corruption; and institutions. The last offers...

It has long been realised that factor accumulation and technological development are only proximate causes of economic development, and focus has now shifted to investigating the deeper determinants of economic growth. Two such forces are highlighted in literature : institutions and geography....

In this note I argue that the desirability of fiscal policy in response to the current crisis depends on whether one views the current crisis as a temporary deviation from a unique equilibrium or as a bad equilibrium out of multiple equilibria. The paper presents a simple Diamond (1982) type of...

This paper argues that the subprime financial crisis reflects weakness in the real economy of the US from its start. Our comparison with prior US recessions indicates that the epicenters of most of the recessions were in the financial sector and that recessionary pressure was present in the last...