Journal ArticleDOI
Africa's Growth Tragedy: Policies and Ethnic Divisions
William Easterly,Ross Levine +1 more
TLDR
This article showed that ethnic diversity helps explain cross-country differences in public policies and other economic indicators in Sub-Saharan Africa, and that high ethnic fragmentation explains a significant part of most of these characteristics.Abstract:
Explaining cross-country differences in growth rates requires not only an understanding of the link between growth and public policies, but also an understanding of why countries choose different public policies. This paper shows that ethnic diversity helps explain cross-country differences in public policies and other economic indicators. In the case of Sub-Saharan Africa, economic growth is associated with low schooling, political instability, underdeveloped financial systems, distorted foreign exchange markets, high government deficits, and insufficient infrastructure. Africa's high ethnic fragmentation explains a significant part of most of these characteristics.read more
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Government Ownership Of Banks
Rafael La Porta,Rafael La Porta,Florencio Lopez de Silanes,Florencio Lopez de Silanes,Andrei Shleifer,Andrei Shleifer +5 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate a neglected aspect of financial systems of many countries around the world: government ownership of banks and find that government ownership is associated with slower subsequent financial development.
Journal ArticleDOI
the middle class consensus and economic development
TL;DR: In this article, the authors link a middle class consensus to resource endowments, along the lines of the provocative thesis of Engerman and Sokoloff (1997 and 2000).
Journal ArticleDOI
Judicial Checks and Balances
TL;DR: This paper found strong support for the proposition that both judicial independence and constitutional review are associated with greater freedom and that judicial independence accounts for some of the positive effect of common-law legal origin on measures of economic freedom.
Journal Article
Growing Public: Social Spending and Economic Growth Since the Eighteenth Century, Vols. 1 (The Story) and 2 (Further Evidence)
TL;DR: Lindert as mentioned in this paper showed that no Darwinian mechanism has punished the welfare states, and used history to explain why this surprising result makes sense, contrary to the intuition of many economists and the ideology of many politicians.
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The quality of institutions and foreign direct investment
Christian Daude,Ernesto Stein +1 more
TL;DR: This paper explored the importance of a wide range of institutional variables as determinants of the location of FDI and found that better institutions have overall a positive and economically significant effect on FDI, some institutional aspects matter more than others do.
References
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The mechanics of economic development
Abstract: This paper considers the prospects for constructing a neoclassical theory of growth and international trade that is consistent with some of the main features of economic development. Three models are considered and compared to evidence: a model emphasizing physical capital accumulation and technological change, a model emphasizing human capital accumulation through schooling, and a model emphasizing specialized human capital accumulation through learning-by-doing.
Journal ArticleDOI
On the mechanics of economic development
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider the prospects for constructing a neoclassical theory of growth and international trade that is consistent with some of the main features of economic development, and compare three models and compared to evidence.
Posted Content
Law and Finance
Rafael La Porta,Rafael La Porta,Florencio Lopez de Silanes,Florencio Lopez de Silanes,Andrei Shleifer,Andrei Shleifer,Robert W. Vishny,Robert W. Vishny +7 more
TL;DR: This paper examined legal rules covering protection of corporate shareholders and creditors, the origin of these rules, and the quality of their enforcement in 49 countries and found that common law countries generally have the best, and French civil law countries the worst, legal protections of investors.
ReportDOI
Economic Growth in a Cross Section of Countries
TL;DR: For 98 countries in the period 1960-1985, the growth rate of real per capita GDP is positively related to initial human capital (proxied by 1960 school-enrollment rates) and negatively related to the initial (1960) level as mentioned in this paper.
Journal ArticleDOI
Finance and Growth: Schumpeter Might Be Right
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined a cross-section of about 80 countries for the period 1960-89 and found that various measures of financial development are strongly associated with both current and later rates of economic growth.