This paper, based on the introductory remarks made at the two-day conference on “The State of the Economy, the State of the World,” is an idiosyncratic stocktaking of the trajectory of economics from Adam Smith to contemporary times, with special attention to the rise of development...

The newly born, one year old State of Southern Sudan faces multiple challenges, economic, administrative, ethnic and most of all, civil conflicts with its previous mother country, Sudan. Building a state is an arduous mission and building a nation comprised of many ethnicities is the most...

The progress of post-socialist systemic transformation should be evaluated through the prism of its influence on a country's development abilities. During twenty years of comprehensive systemic shift, gross domestic product has increased only to a limited degree, on a par with the growth of the...

The Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), founded in 1977, has gained international recognition for useful research on development issues relevant to the nation’s economic needs. In this memoir prepared for the 40th anniversary celebration of the institute’s birth, the author...

Studies of Bernard Mandeville by economists and historians of economic thought have focused overwhelmingly on the problem of situating his work within the development of the theory of laissez-faire and evaluating his influence on major figures in the Scottish Enlightenment, especially Adam...

Progress in achieving institutional changes should be evaluated through the prism of their influence on the development abilities of the relevant country. In Poland, during 20 years of comprehensive systemic shift, GDP increased more than in any other postsocialist country. To judge the...

nstitutions are not only created and built, but also, and especially, need to be learnt. It is a process which takes place in all economies, but acquires a special importance in less advanced countries. Not only theoretical arguments, but also the practical experience over the past 15 years...

Do political regime and freedom have a significant effect on economic growth? This paper tries to maintain differences in three political regimes viz. autocracies, bureaucracies and democracies and examines whether these regimes have different features overall and within specific continents in...