Hirschman was both a pioneer and a dissenter of development economics. He shares with the high theory the virtues and misfortunes of committing to modernize the underdeveloped world, but his exposure to the politics of development in Latin America gave new life to his early insights. Revealing...

This paper analyses land policy when the state lacks the monopoly of legitimate violence (MLV) through a territory. I use historical data for Colombia to empirically assess the dynamics through which the central state allocates land in such a scenario. I argue that colonization processes...

This paper examines how trust on institutions and organizations are shaped according to age and exposure to violence during La Violencia. It also evaluates how people's actual trust on different groups (out-group trust) changes in municipalities that were exposed to violence in comparison to...

Spanish Abstract: Este trabajo examina el impacto de la institución colonial de la Encomienda sobre la violencia del conflicto armado del siglo XX en Colombia. A pesar de haber sido una institución extractiva, hay evidencia que muestra que las regiones en donde estuvo presente desarrollaron...

In spite of the use of a utilitarian language in Rational Choice Theory, economists do not acknowledge any link to this current of moral philosophy, and have made great efforts to rid economics from its legacy. In this document we aim at assessing these efforts retracing their history from...

In spite of the use of a utilitarian language in Rational Choice Theory, economists do not acknowledge any link to this current of moral philosophy, and have made great efforts to rid economics from its legacy. In this document we aim at assessing these efforts retracing their history from...

Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Adam Smith stand on opposite sides regarding their appraisal of commercial society. The citizen of Geneva is known as one of its most harsh critiques, whereas the Scottish philosopher is considered as one of its main advocates. However, both authors coincide on one...

After having reviewed some of the recent advances in Economics trying to incorporate new elements in our understanding of human interactions, we aim at contributing to this line of research using Adam Smith's system of sympathy. The features Smith attributes to the inter subjective...

This paper tries to explain why kidnapping has fallen so dramatically in Colombia during the period 2000-2008. The widely held belief is that the falling kidnapping rates can basically be explained as a consequence of the success of President Alvaro Uribe's democratic security policy. Without...

Spanish Abstract: El aumento en el área cultivada con coca en Colombia ha generado dudas con respecto a la estrategia antinarcóticos del país, y ha estimulado el escepticismo con respecto a las posibilidades de lograr una paz completa y definitiva. Asimismo, la percepción de fracaso ha dado...