This paper provides a review and synthesis of the findings of the second phase of a research project on institutions and long-run economic performance. It discusses research findings in five areas, namely (1) the relationship between institutional characteristics and the duration of economic...

Innovation is a multilevel phenomenon. Not only characteristics of firms but also environment within which firms operate matter. Although this has been for long recognized in the literature, a quantitative test that explicitly concerns the hypothesis that framework conditions affect...

This paper investigates micro and macro determinants of firms' investment behaviour using firm data from 101 developing and emerging economies. A substantial number of firms in our sample does not invest in fixed capital or invests little relative to sales revenue. Using a multilevel probit...

Drawing insights from firm-level survey, this paper addresses three broad issues relating to the role of learning and knowledge in African industry. First, we examined modes of learning proxied by training in small and medium firms. We found that elementary learning mechanisms such as...

It is well-known that the extent of credit lent to private agents differs widely between countries. The `financial deepening' of the economy offers opportunities as well as financial risks. This study investigates the extent to which institutional characteristics are re- lated to countries'...

Using institutional indicators describing 122 countries, we conduct an exploratory study highlighting which institutional characteristics differ across countries with different levels of income and rates of growth. We describe a country's institutions by the degree of formalization of its...

In this paper we question the validity of the arguments against Turkey's membership of the EU and challenge the political wisdom of excluding Turkey from Europe. First, we argue that fundamental European values are not as uniform as they are made out to be. There are significant differences...

Studies of the relationship between FDI and domestic investment levels reach contradictory findings. We revisit this empirical relationship and argue that some of the conflicting evidence may be explained by the use of poor proxies for the true underlying variables and by questionable...

Using the rich micro data set of the World Bank Investment Climate Survey, this paper examines the determinants of productivity among manufacturing firms in the context of a least developed country, Tanzania. In particular it seeks to evaluate the importance of technological variables - such as...