Growth theory has traditionally assumed the existence of an aggregate production function, whose existence and properties are closely tied to the assumption of optimal resource allocation within each economy. We show extensive evidence, culled from the micro-development literature, demonstrating...

Research on Singapore's economic history has been complicated by the absence of economic data on pre-independence Singapore. This book aims to fill the gap by presenting a time-series of historical GDP estimates for the periods 1900–39 and 1950–60. The new data presented in the...

This paper presents an extension of the model in Jaimovich [Jaimovich, E., 2010. Adverse selection and entrepreneurship in a model of development. Scandinavian Journal of Economics 112, 77–100] and generalizes his results by relaxing key assumptions in his analysis.

China is well-placed to avoid the so-called “middle-income trap” and to continue to converge towards the more advanced economies, even though growth is likely to slow from near double-digit rates in the first decade of this millennium to around 7% at the 2020 horizon. However, in order to...

China is well-placed to avoid the so-called “middle-income trap” and to continue to converge towards the more advanced economies, even though growth is likely to slow from near double-digit rates in the first decade of this millennium to around 7% at the 2020 horizon. However, in order to...

I investigate the effect of electricity provision on industrialization using a panel of Indian states for 1965–1984. To address the endogeneity of investment in electrification, I use the introduction of a new agricultural technology intensive in irrigation (the Green Revolution) as a natural...

Randomized experiments have become a popular tool in development economics research, and have been the subject of a number of criticisms. This paper reviews the recent literature, and discusses the strengths and limitations of this approach in theory and in practice. We argue that the main...

In the summer of 1979, with the twentieth anniversary of the Portici Specialization and Research Centre approaching, Manlio Rossi-Doria began to draw up a report illustrating the aims of the Centre with an overview of the activities already performed. As his health deteriorated he found himself...

We perform development accounting in accordance with Weil (2005, 2007) in a cross-state analysis of India. Results of similar magnitude are found, demonstrating that health can account for 1% to 18% of income differences depending on the health measure.