This paper extends the North, Wallis, and Weingast (2009) framework for understanding the problems of development. Our approach distinguishes two development problems that are normally conflated. Most approaches to development focus on the second problem, namely, the transition of societies from...

This paper provides an overview of the failure of Argentina to benefit long term from export led development in the early and middle decades of the last century. Despite being well positioned to take advantage of significant breakdowns in the international economic system Argentina largely...

Due to an extraordinary growth performance during the last two decades the Chilean neo-liberal model of development, based on the exploitation of the country's static comparative advantages, has turned into a benchmark for most developing countries. The aim of this paper is to discuss the long...

China's emergence has raised pointed questions about the future of manufacturing in Latin America. This paper looks at this challenge and its implications. It begins by asking: Does manufacturing still matter for Latin America? It argues that the region cannot afford to turn its back to a...

This paper combines insights from law and economics to create a hybrid model that examines the U-shaped relationship between the strength of a country’s IPR protections and its level of economic development over time. This hybrid model is used to analyze whether implementing different levels...

Connecting the theory of National Systems of Innovation with Development theory offers new insights for a global and interdisciplinary analysis of the current problems of underdevelopment. Some of the main contributions of classical Development thinking are seen to be most relevant. The role of...

Brazil is frequently portrayed as exhibiting persistent and structural economic inequality that is rooted in the early colonial experience, and is believed to undermine development in the long run. I construct original measures of agricultural inequality for 1905 in what is today Brazil's...

The future looked bright for Argentina in the early twentieth century. It had already achieved high levels of income per capita and was moving away from authoritarian government towards a more open democracy. Unfortunately, Argentina never finished the transition. The turning point occurred in...

The link between energy consumption and economic growth has been widely studied in the economic literature. Understanding this relationship is important from both an environmental and a socio-economic point of view, as energy consumption is crucial to economic activity and human environmental...

This research argues that variations in the interplay between cultural assimilation and cultural diffusion have played a significant role in giving rise to differential patterns of economic development across the globe. Societies that were geographically less vulnerable to cultural diffusion,...