To account for the African growth tragedy and, in particular, for its causes rooted in governance problems, the institutional legacy that African countries inherited from pre-colonial and colonial times must be considered. Three aspects are examined here. First, the relationship between...

The question as to whether religion can block economic development and institutional change assumes particular importance today because of the rise of Islamist movements and the disappointing economic performances in the lands of Islam. This paper starts from a critical examination of the thesis...

On the basis of detailed information on inheritance practices collected in the course of an in-depth survey of three Andean communities of Peru, and unlike most empirical studies which rely on remittance functions, we have been able to estimate an inheritance function with a view to identifying...

Title ?' Growth and Poverty Reduction in Developing and Transition CountriesAbstract ?' The aim of the paper is to evaluate economic growth rates required indifferentes regions of the world to reach the millenium development goal of halvingglobal poverty rate by 2015. Current situation of...

The standard view of economists is that formalisation of private rights in land is a prerequisite of economic growth, especially so in conditions of acute population pressure and agricultutal commercialisation. That stage has been reached in many regions of the African continent, hence the...

The purpose of this chapter is to identify the reasons for collective action failures and successes in natural resource management, and to understand, in the light of economic theory, the mode of operation of the factors involved whenever possible. In the first section, we clarify the notion of...

The question as to whether religion can block economic development and institutional change, or is a purely endogenous factor, assumes particular importance today because of the rise of Islamist movements and the disappointing economic performances in the lands of Islam. This paper starts from a...