"Political, social and economic upheaval have marked the 20 years since Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region of China. To mark the historic handover, the Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) at Nanyang Technological University invited experts from various fields to share their unique...

It is generally acknowledge that a higher degree of party and party system institutionalisation is positively correlated with the consolidation of democracy. It is, thus, useful to compare different levels and types of insititutionalisation. In this article the distinction made by Levitsky...

The remarkable influx of Chinese migrant entrepreneurs in West Africa has been met with growing resistance from established African entrepreneurs. Whether the former have a competitive edge over the latter because of distinctive sociocultural traits or whether the Chineseʹs supposed...

The 2030 Agenda has provided new impetus to two facets of the struggle for poverty alleviation, which is a central goal of the international development community. First, poverty is no longer viewed strictly in monetary terms, but rather as a multidimensional phenomenon. Second, the need to...

Propagation of rule: a theory of economic success and stagnation -- The propagation of rule -- Historical origins of rule propagation -- Applying the theory: why the West got rich and the Middle East did not -- Bans on taking interest -- Restrictions on the printing press -- Printing & the...

For centuries following the spread of Islam, the Middle East was far ahead of Europe. Yet, the modern economy was born in Europe. Why was it not born in the Middle East? In this book Jared Rubin examines the role that Islam played in this reversal of fortunes. It argues that the religion itself...