The commonly-used satellite images of nighttime lights fail to capture the true brightness of most cities. We show that night lights are a reliable proxy for economic activity at the city level, provided they are first corrected for top-coding. We present a stylized model of urban luminosity and...

This paper proposes that a virtuous circle for the sustainable develop- ment of a city or region is achieved through a process whereby proactive and strong leadership and effective institutions enhance the capacity and capability of a place to better use its resource endowments and gain an...

Endogenous development is an interpretation that includes different points of view which share the same theoretical and policy patterns. It is a territorial approach to development that refers to growth and capital accumulation processes of territories that have their own culture and...

Recent literatures on entrepreneurship and economic growth estimate the empirical relationships between the following pairs of variables: (1) institutions and entrepreneurial activity; (2) institutions and economic growth; and (3) entrepreneurship and economic growth. This paper revisits each of...

Unskilled labor is the abundant resource in many developing countries, especially at an early stage of their development. Yet, even as at given technologies labor markets have not cleared, neo-classical economists have rejected the notion of an institutional or bargaining wage not based on...

This study explores the interaction between trade and geography in shaping the Islamic economic doctrine and in turn the comparative development of the Muslim world. We build a model where an unequal distribution of land quality in presence of trade opportunities conferred differential gains...

Hundreds of studies have failed to establish the effects of decentralisation on a number of important policy goals. This paper examines the cases of Bolivia and Colombia to explore decentralisation’s effects on government responsiveness and poverty-orientation. I first summarize economic data...

The objective of the study was to develop and describe socioeconomic profiles of the rural community in the Hilkot Watershed Mansehra engaged in natural resources management practices. The study reveals that population living in the sample area have diverse cultural and ethnic background. Mainly...

It has been shown that countries located further from global economic activity will have lower levels of per capita income and human capital. We evaluate, for the Portuguese case, the validity of the positive relationship of economic centrality with per capita income and with human capital at...

New knowledge in the form of products, processes and organizations leads to opportunities that can be exploited commercially. However, converting new ideas into economic growth requires turning new knowledge into economic knowledge that constitutes a commercial opportunity. Acs, Audretsch,...