This paper describes some of the ways in which mineral rents and their management influence economic growth and other determinants of growth as well as some of the reasons why many mineral-rich countries have not managed very well to divert their resource rents to furthering economic and social...

This Discussion Paper analyses the experiences of several countries (and one state within a federated country) where social achievements have aroused much interest and debate: Chile, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Kerala, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam. Particular attention is given to the political...

Taiwan has undergone a process of swift industrialization after 1948. Rapid accumulation of physical and human capital enabled Taiwan to exploit new technologies and products, resulting in rapid catch up in labour productivity relative to more advanced economies. Using the industry-of-origin...

The turning point in the postwar economic development of West Germany was 1973, not 1968. But the massive increase of the world prices for energy in 1973 did not hit an economy with bright prospects for stable growth rates and low inflation. Contrary, the pattern of economic growth of the 1960s...

Why are socially beneficial reforms not implemented? One simple answer to this question (which has received little attention in the literature) is that this may be caused by generalised uncertainty about the effectiveness of reforms. If agents are unsure about whether a proposed reform will...

A three-sector macromodel of China’s economy is developed, in which the activity of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) is constrained by the state-imposed credit plan for working capital. Our analysis indicates the weakness of credit control and interest rate variation as anti-inflationary tools....

This paper provides a theoretical analysis of the relationship between public sector motivation and development. In the model the public sector produces a public good and workers are heterogeneous in terms of public sector motivation (PSM). Wages in the private sector are increasing in the...

We construct a competitive model of innovation and growth under constant returns to scale. Previous models of growth under constant returns cannot model technological innovation. Current models of endogenous innovation rely on the interplay between increasing returns and monopolistic markets. In...

This Paper studies empirically the effects of and the interactions amongst economic and political liberalizations. Economic liberalizations are measured by a widely used indicator that captures the scope of the market in the economy, and in particular of policies towards freer international...

Economic growth since 1965 has varied inversely with the share of natural capital in national wealth across countries. Four main channels of transmission from abundant natural resources to stunted economic development are discussed: (a) the Dutch disease, (b) rent seeking, (c) overconfidence,...