Based on a critical review of diverse explanations for underdevelopment in the Middle East, ranging from long-run historical approaches to accounts that concentrate on developments since independence, I make two main arguments in this essay. First, a single framework cannot explain the diverse...

This paper develops a two-sector model with specific factors of production à la Ricardo-Viner-Jones, in which agriculture is subject to diminishing returns and market-clearing wages, while increasing returns and efficiency wage mechanisms prevail in industry. The asymmetric interaction of the...

The recent increase in the world price of primary commodities has brought back to the forum the issue of the role of natural resources in the development process. Whilst improving terms of trade may help developing countries to grow faster in the short run, doubts still exist on the long-run...