In this paper, we build a simple model to integrate the findings and/or hypotheses in the diverse literatures related to economic development and growth. They include the literature on institutions attributed to Douglas North (1990), on entrepreneurs, innovations and technical progress...

This paper delivers a simple model to generalize the successful trade liberalization experiences in East Asian countries as a strategy for attaining inclusive and sustained economic growth. The sequential approach, based on preserving existing production units while liberalizing trade-oriented...

Despite decades of experience and research, the effects of wage-labor regulations on long-run economic performance have rarely been studied since Stigler's (1946) classic exposition about the shortcomings of minimum wage legislation. In this study, we estimate and report the magnitude and...

Employing a novel empirical framework with a well-tested data set, we estimate the optimal level and transmission channels of the level of political rights on the growth rate of real GDP. Our study concludes that mild autocracy can raise the growth rate in real GDP by reducing government...

In this paper, we formulate a political system that can satisfy certain desirable characteristics, namely: 1. democratic participation 2. serving for universal interest 3. public sector efficiency 4. sustainability by incentive compatibility and virtuous cycles. It is a political structure that...

The development process and technological improvements since the industrial revolution are characterized by substantial increases in the quantity and variety of tools/machines/materials adopted in production. It is difficult to reject empirically that proliferation of tools variety is the...

In late 1994, it became known that around two-thirds of the state-owned enterprises in China were running at a loss or yielding no profit. For more than a decade, China has been searching for a management system for state-owned enterprises to improve their efficiency. Various 'contract...

In this paper, we build a simple model to explain the choice of migration method and the root causes of international human trafficking (IHT). Our analyses result in several implications on the problems related to IHT. First, IHT is driven by poverty and international productivity/living quality...

We find an undiscovered effect of geography on the choices of writing system in ancient civilizations that in turn drive their courses of historical evolution. The fates of the ancient civilizations were predetermined by the causation spirals generated by the writing system chosen by their...