Explanations of economic growth and prosperity commonly identify a unique causal effect, e.g., institutions, culture, human capital, geography. In this paper we provide instead a theoretical modeling of the interaction between culture and institutions and their effects on economic activity. We characterize conditions on the socio-economic environment such that culture and institutions complemen...

Hobbes to Rousseau: Inequality, Institutions, and Development This paper studies the endogenous evolution of economic and political institutions and the interdependencies with the process of economic development. Favorable economic institutions in form of a social contract that ensures a state of law and the absence of societal conflict are not assumed exogenously under certain political system...

This paper divides economic institutions into three categories—coordination institutions, property rights institutions, and contracting institutions— and from this perspective, analyzes the role of government in Korea’s economic development from the 1960s to the 1980s. This analysis suggests that the Korean development experience is not in line with the conclusions of Acemoglu, Johnson, and Rob...

Over the last couple of decades, it has become a commonplace to claim that “institutions matter” for economic development. Yet, institutions are not exogenous but the result of human action. It is argued here that the values and norms held by substantial parts of society’s members are an important determinant of its institutions. It is further argued that values and norms have both a direct and...

The paper argues that a narrow conceptualization of institutions as more or less similar to ‘good governance’ is not conductive for an understanding of the institutional underpinnings of the learning economy. In stead an explicit focus on a broad set of institutions that support learning is needed. Improving learning and innovation capabilities is not only a question of more resources for educa...

A group of social scientists-five sociologists, a psychiatrist, and a psychologist-met in Washington June 20 and 21 at the iwvitation of the Commissioner of Social Security. They discussed “the compelling priorities for sustaining and enriching family life in the United States that should guide the Social Security Administration.” The following paper by Dr. Pollak was presented at the meeting.

Growth theory has identified a plethora of determinants for development; however, the more carefully economists study institutions, the more crucial they seem to become for the growth process. For decades economists focused on physical/human capital as well as technical change as sources of the wealth of nations. Crises and failed transition experiments in the 1990s brought to light that even t...