Vote-buying is widely used by parties in developing countries to influence the outcome of elections. We examine the impact of vote-buying on growth. We consider a model with a poverty trap where redistribution can promote growth. We show that vote-buying contributes to the persistence of poverty...

Low growth equilibria with low investment in human capital generally tend to persist till an external shock affects the economy. In this paper we use data on Christian missions to proxy a long-lasting educational shock in Africa. We estimate the effect of this shock on the quality of children...

Vote-buying is widely used by parties in developing countries to influence the outcome of elections. We examine the impact of vote-buying on growth. We consider a model with a poverty trap where redistribution can promote growth. We show that vote-buying contributes to the persistence of poverty...

A 2015 World Bank report on attainment of Millennium Development Goals concludes that the number of extremely poor has dropped substantially in all regions with the exception of Sub-Saharan Africa. We assess if poverty is in the African gene by revisiting the findings of Ashraf and Galor (2013,...

During the past 20 years, Haiti's development efforts have been stifled by natural disasters, poverty, and inequality. Given all of the current challenges facing Haiti, the World Bank Group country partnership framework aims to support the country's efforts to provide economic opportunities for...

At the least, this book summarizes and reconsiders many of the arguments and findings that supported and explained the economic “miracles” of the four East Asian economies of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of People's Republic of China (Hong Kong), Singapore, Chinese Taipei...

Seen in historical perspective the main economic predicaments of the present world (such as poverty, inequality, backwardness) appear in a somewhat different light than in many current discussions, especially by sociologists, radical economists and political scientists. In the present paper the...

Growth improved substantially in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) since 1990, but poverty in SSA as a whole has fallen by about a third, compared to by half or more in other developing regions. While some countries have had little or no success in reducing poverty, many have had...

This paper is essentially autobiographical and describes Erik Thorbecke's journey through the history of development economics between the 1950s and the present. The paper consists of four parts. First, an introduction reviews briefly his professional career as a development economist and his...

The purpose of the chapter is to analyze Africa's economic successes in the past half century, to understand not only what made it possible but also and more importantly what risk factors may eventually bring it to an end or compromise it. While it may not be possible for Africa to alter, for...