This paper attempts to identify a process of cumulative reinforcements that sustained pro-growth state orientations and the other participants' motives for collaboration during the post World War II economic development East Asia. The process is elaborated in terms of the five parties who were...

Jean-Jacques Laffont's work has deeply influenced public economics, and has established an important framework for the theory of incentives and regulation. He died in 2004, but his last book, based on the Caffe' Lecture in Rome, has now been published (Laffont J-J, Regulation and Development,...

Becoming a rich country requires the ability to produce and export commodities that embody certain characteristics. We classify 779 exported commodities according to two dimensions: (1) sophistication (measured by the income content of the products exported); and (2) connectivity to other...

This paper deals with a classic development question: how can the process of economic development – transition from stagnation in a traditional technology to industrialization and prosperity with a modern technology – be accelerated? Lewis (1954) and Rostow (1956) argue that the pace of...

This paper deals with a classic development question: how can the process of economic development – transition from stagnation in a traditional technology to industrialization and prosperity with a modern technology – be accelerated? Lewis (1954) and Rostow (1956) argue that the pace of...

This paper presents an overlapping generations model with technology choice and credit market imperfections, in order to investigate a possible source of underdevelopment. The model shows that a better financial infrastructure that provides stronger enforcement of contracts facilitates the...

This paper assesses the relative merits and demerits of different East Asian models by placing them in a historical perspective. It re-interprets Gerschenkron's model of late industrialization, and extends it to compare East Asian economies in view of substituting and complementing models. It...

There is little doubt that technology change, both in terms of its process and quality dimensions, represents the principal driving force to explain comparative economic performance at both micro and macro levels. This paper examines the sources of technology change and the impediments to the...

This paper examines the theoretical and empirical evidence for the hypothesis that manufacturing is the main engine of growth in developing countries. The paper opens with an overview of the main arguments supporting the engine of growth hypothesis and then examines each of these arguments using...

Time was when solar energy was facilely dismissed as impractical, inefficient, and pricey. In recent years, however, innovations in technology, regulation, and financing have resulted in remarkable efficiency improvements and price reductions, thereby reversing the skepticism about this...