Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) play a key role in starting and operating small-scale businesses. In Soweto, South Africa, mobile phones have sparked the creation of new business models and strategies among entrepreneurs. Their use is shown to help maintain relationships and...

The spread of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has started around a decade ago. This development carries the potential to substantially transform labor markets and employment, especially in countries with a low level of economic infrastructure. ICT has already created numerous new...

This paper presents a theory of underdevelopment. It explains why developing countries may not be able to successfully implement the productive technologies or modes of organization used in developed ones. It also suggests ways around this problem of implementation, and provides an explanation...

We suggest that the geographical patterns of income differences across the world have deep underpinnings. We emphasize that economic development is a complex process driven by economic, political, social, and biophysical forces. Some economists have argued that the patterns reflect mainly the...

This paper studies how the assignment of patents as collateral determines the savings of firms and magnifies the effect of innovative rents on investment in research and development (R&D). We analyse the behaviour of innovative firms that face random and lumpy investment opportunities in R&D....

Interactions between economic development and financial development are studied by looking at the roles of financial institutions in selecting R&D projects (including for both imitation and innovation). Financial development is regarded as the evolution of the financing regimes. The...