"The aim of this short book is to understand which countries do well on key indicators and why. After a short philosophical and historical survey of the literature to put the book into context, the Better-Place Index is developed. This is subsequently tested against a number of policy variables,...

It is noteworthy that China's remarkable success in economic development has occurred under a relatively statist economy, while the more liberalized economies of most other developing countries have fared far less well. This paper compares China's experience to those of other newly...