"Drawing on the recent literature on economic institutions and the origins of economic development, the authors offer a political economy explanation of why institution building has varied so much across transition economies. They identify dependence on natural resources and the historical...

"This paper explores endogenous institution formation under a catching-up strategy in developing countries. Since the catching-up strategy is normally against the compartive advantages of the developing countries, it can not be implemented through laissez-faire market mechanisms, and a...

"Aid is expected to promote better living standards by raising investment and growth. But aid may also affect institutions directly. In theory, these effects may or may not work in the same direction as those on investment. The authors examine the effect of aid on economic institutions and find...

Markets should give incentives to engage in wider trade, forge the ability to use resources, and skills fully, and provide the opportunity to increase incomes, and accumulate assets. Despite underlying problems, many people in both developed, and developing countries do engage in productive, and...

"Estache, Perelman, and Trujillo review about 80 studies on electricity and gas, water and sanitation, and rail and ports (with a footnote on telecommunications) in developing countries. The main policy lesson is that there is a difference in the relevance of ownership for efficiency between...

This World Development Report examines the transition of countries with alternative systems of centrally planned economies back to a market orientation. These countries seceded from the world market economy between 1917 and 1950 and now face a massive restructuring task. This transition goes...

This World Development Report examines the transition of countries with alternative systems of centrally planned economies back to a market orientation. These countries seceded from the world market economy between 1917 and 1950 and now face a massive restructuring task. This transition goes...

The purpose of this Country Economic Memorandum (CEM) is to assess the extent of structural change in the Russian Federation, and its contribution to long-term growth - a prerequisite for meeting the government's ambitious economic objectives. The report starts with the hypothesis that Russia's...

This annual conference is a global gathering of the world's leading scholars and practitioners. Among the attendees are participants from developing countries, think tanks, NGOs, and international institutions. The papers included in this book concern issues such as:-inequality and growth in...