This paper examines the nature of the economic failure that has brought North Korea such low living standards, and considers how the economic system might be reformed to facilitate a return to overall growth in both aggregate income (GDP) and general living standards. The focus is on...

A brief review is first presented of the changes in pricing institutions in China since 1949, with particular emphasis on the shift from an equilibrium price system to a distorted price system. The authors argue that distorted prices are harmful to economic growth even in a planned economy,...

Output decline has been a feature of the transition economies in the initial post-communist period, including in those countries that belonged to the former Soviet Union. However, explanations for the decline and its persistence have not been easy to find, and mostly they have focussed upon...

There are diverse ideas about governance around the world, and this paper studies them through the following questions: (a) what does the available evidence tell us about the political and institutional requirements for sustained economic growth? (b) What do we need from the state to secure...