This paper describes the very different role played by female elites in contemporary developing countries, as compared to the ‘early’ industrializing countries of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. It shows that women are far more important in business and politics in today’s...

This study provides evidence that culture understood as values and beliefs moves very slowly. Despite massive institutional change, values and beliefs in transition countries have not changed much over the last 20 years. Evidence suggests that culture is affected by the long run historical past,...

At the end of the 1980s, C.te d.Ivoire entered a deep macroeconomic crisis that put an end to the often-praised .Ivorian miracle.. After the death of the founding father Houphouet-Boigny, unrestrained political competition added to bad economic conditions

Researchers have linked sub-Saharan Africa.s (SSA) poor growth performance in recent decades to several factors, including geography, institutions, and low returns to investment. This literature has not yet integrated the research that identifies linkage

Following an overview on the fast changing global context of agriculture, and food and nutrition security, this paper provides a framework for identifying the set of essential international public goods for a well-functioning world agriculture and food sy

The notion that economic development in African states requires minimal levels of security has become widely accepted in the international development community. Reforming non-functioning policing systems is an important step toward achieving security, ye

Many international organizations, governments and academics concerned with economic development look to Asia’s success, recommending that other poor countries follow similar models and paths of development. This study argues that such Asian ‘lesson-making’ is a grave mistake in...

The majority of the world.s poor, by income poverty and multi-dimensional poverty, now live in countries officially classified by the World Bank as middle-income countries. Of course nothing happens when a country crosses a (somewhat) arbitrary threshold

This paper argues that attempts at state-building in Afghanistan have led to institutions that are not robust. The state institutions and organizations continue to be highly dependent on external resources and technical expertise, and lack of critical mas

India did not experience any food price spikes during 2007.08 when global food prices erupted. It was partly due to India.s ban on exports of wheat and common rice. But the fiscal stimulus that the government provided in 2009 in the wake of G8 countries.