States and economic growth: Capacity and constraints☆
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the study of economic history provides vital insights into the process through which modern states have acquired "state capacity" and evaluate the process of state building across a range of different countries in Europe and Asia.
About: This article is published in Explorations in Economic History.The article was published on 2017-04-01. It has received 207 citations till now.
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3,713 citations
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01 Jan 1983
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a typology of nationalisms in industrial and agro-literature societies, and a discussion of the difficulties of true nationalism in industrial societies.
Abstract: Series Editor's Preface. Introduction by John Breuilly. Acknowledgements. 1. Definitions. State and nation. The nation. 2. Culture in Agrarian Society. Power and culture in the agro-literature society. The varieties of agrarian rulers. 3. Industrial Society. The society of perpetual growth. Social genetics. The age of universal high culture. 4. The Transition to an Age of Nationalism. A note on the weakness of nationalism. Wild and garden culture. 5. What is a Nation. The course of true nationalism never did run smooth. 6. Social Entropy and Equality in Industrial Society. Obstacles to entropy. Fissures and barriers. A diversity of focus. 7. A Typology of Nationalisms. The varieties of nationalist experience. Diaspora nationalism. 8. The Future of Nationalism. Industrial culture - one or many?. 9. Nationalism and Ideology. Who is for Nuremberg?. One nation, one state. 10. Conclusion. What is not being said. Summary. Select bibliography. Bilbliography of Ernest Gellner's writing: Ian Jarvie. Index
2,912 citations
TL;DR: Addison and Siebert as discussed by the authors describe anti-union legislation in the UK during the period 19801993 and relate it to the recent decline of unionism, and discuss the prospect of new legislation seeking to regulate the employment relation from the level of the European Union.
Abstract: cal dimension: the UK, the EU and the US. The profound recent changes in the industrial relations framework in the UK are described by John Addison and Stanley Siebert. They describe anti-union legislation enacted during the period 19801993 and relate it to the recent decline of unionism. The authors further examine the accession of ‘New Labour’ and its related reform agenda. They also discuss the prospect of new legislation seeking to regulate the employment relation from the level of the European Union and its impact on relevant British legislation.
580 citations
TL;DR: In this article, Hayek verwirrend dürfte die Unterscheidung des Autors zwischen Mikround Makroebene sein (S. 257), wenn der Leser an die herkömmlichen Kategorien denkt.
Abstract: dann zu seinem Gegenstand, der Selbstorganisation in der evolutorischen Ökonomik, zu gelangen (S. 256 ff.). Er vermutet, dass schon Adam Smith den Grundgedanken des Paradigmas „unsichtbaren Hand“ vorweggenommen habe (ebenda). Etwas verwirrend dürfte die Unterscheidung des Autors zwischen Mikround Makroebene sein (S. 257), wenn der Leser an die herkömmlichen Kategorien denkt. Gemeint sind vom Autor die einzelwirtschaftliche und die Ebene des Marktprozesses. Damit dürften die ungeplanten Ergebnisse auf der Marktprozessebene und die nicht intendierten Handlungsfolgen (wiederum bezogen auf die Marktebene) verständlicher werden. Später (S. 254) weist der Autor auf einen bedeutenden Unterschied zwischen der physikalischen und ökonomischen Selbstorganisation hin. Im ersten Fall sind die Systemelemente passiv, währen sie im zweiten Fall initiativ und mit Erwartungen sowie Absichten ausgestattet sind. Die beiden Fälle beschreiben das, was Hayek mit der Unterscheidung von geplanter und ungeplanter oder spontaner Ordnung meint. Für ihn dürfte die ungeplante Ordnung ein Phänomen der Selbstorganisation sein, während die geplante Ordnung ein Produkt der Fremdorganisation wäre. Abschließend kommt der Autor zu dem Ergebnis, dass die Übertragung des betrachteten Paradigmas auf die evolutorische Ökonomik sowohl nach Anwendungsbereich als auch nach Erkenntnisgewinn bescheiden bleibt (S. 260). Das dürfte, gemessen an der ebenfalls der klassischen Physik (Mechanik) entlehnten Neoklassik bescheiden sein. Es kann jedoch auch als Aufforderung angesehen werden, weiterzusuchen, ohne die zentralen Phänomene der Neuerung und Entwicklung aus dem Auge zu verlieren.
376 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective is presented, where the authors focus on the historical perspective of the development strategy and the historical context.
Abstract: (2007). Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective. Journal of Economic Issues: Vol. 41, No. 3, pp. 883-885.
367 citations
References
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01 Jan 1990TL;DR: Douglass C. North as discussed by the authors developed an analytical framework for explaining the ways in which institutions and institutional change affect the performance of economies, both at a given time and over time.
Abstract: Continuing his groundbreaking analysis of economic structures, Douglass North develops an analytical framework for explaining the ways in which institutions and institutional change affect the performance of economies, both at a given time and over time. Institutions exist, he argues, due to the uncertainties involved in human interaction; they are the constraints devised to structure that interaction. Yet, institutions vary widely in their consequences for economic performance; some economies develop institutions that produce growth and development, while others develop institutions that produce stagnation. North first explores the nature of institutions and explains the role of transaction and production costs in their development. The second part of the book deals with institutional change. Institutions create the incentive structure in an economy, and organisations will be created to take advantage of the opportunities provided within a given institutional framework. North argues that the kinds of skills and knowledge fostered by the structure of an economy will shape the direction of change and gradually alter the institutional framework. He then explains how institutional development may lead to a path-dependent pattern of development. In the final part of the book, North explains the implications of this analysis for economic theory and economic history. He indicates how institutional analysis must be incorporated into neo-classical theory and explores the potential for the construction of a dynamic theory of long-term economic change. Douglass C. North is Director of the Center of Political Economy and Professor of Economics and History at Washington University in St. Louis. He is a past president of the Economic History Association and Western Economics Association and a Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has written over sixty articles for a variety of journals and is the author of The Rise of the Western World: A New Economic History (CUP, 1973, with R.P. Thomas) and Structure and Change in Economic History (Norton, 1981). Professor North is included in Great Economists Since Keynes edited by M. Blaug (CUP, 1988 paperback ed.)
27,080 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the role that institutions, defined as the humanly devised constraints that shape human interaction, play in economic performance and how those institutions change and how a model of dynamic institutions explains the differential performance of economies through time.
Abstract: Examines the role that institutions, defined as the humanly devised constraints that shape human interaction, play in economic performance and how those institutions change and how a model of dynamic institutions explains the differential performance of economies through time. Institutions are separate from organizations, which are assemblages of people directed to strategically operating within institutional constraints. Institutions affect the economy by influencing, together with technology, transaction and production costs. They do this by reducing uncertainty in human interaction, albeit not always efficiently. Entrepreneurs accomplish incremental changes in institutions by perceiving opportunities to do better through altering the institutional framework of political and economic organizations. Importantly, the ability to perceive these opportunities depends on both the completeness of information and the mental constructs used to process that information. Thus, institutions and entrepreneurs stand in a symbiotic relationship where each gives feedback to the other. Neoclassical economics suggests that inefficient institutions ought to be rapidly replaced. This symbiotic relationship helps explain why this theoretical consequence is often not observed: while this relationship allows growth, it also allows inefficient institutions to persist. The author identifies changes in relative prices and prevailing ideas as the source of institutional alterations. Transaction costs, however, may keep relative price changes from being fully exploited. Transaction costs are influenced by institutions and institutional development is accordingly path-dependent. (CAR)
26,011 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1983
TL;DR: In this paper, Anderson examines the creation and global spread of the 'imagined communities' of nationality and explores the processes that created these communities: the territorialisation of religious faiths, the decline of antique kingship, the interaction between capitalism and print, the development of vernacular languages-of-state, and changing conceptions of time.
Abstract: What makes people love and die for nations, as well as hate and kill in their name? While many studies have been written on nationalist political movements, the sense of nationality - the personal and cultural feeling of belonging to the nation - has not received proportionate attention. In this widely acclaimed work, Benedict Anderson examines the creation and global spread of the 'imagined communities' of nationality. Anderson explores the processes that created these communities: the territorialisation of religious faiths, the decline of antique kingship, the interaction between capitalism and print, the development of vernacular languages-of-state, and changing conceptions of time. He shows how an originary nationalism born in the Americas was modularly adopted by popular movements in Europe, by the imperialist powers, and by the anti-imperialist resistances in Asia and Africa. This revised edition includes two new chapters, one of which discusses the complex role of the colonialist state's mindset in the development of Third World nationalism, while the other analyses the processes by which all over the world, nations came to imagine themselves as old.
25,018 citations
TL;DR: Putnam et al. as discussed by the authors analyzed the efficacy of these governments in such fields as agriculture, housing, and health services, revealing patterns of associationism, trust, and cooperation that facilitate good governance and economic prosperity.
Abstract: Why do some democratic governments succeed and others fail? In a book that has received attention from policymakers and civic activists in America and around the world, Robert Putnam and his collaborators offer empirical evidence for the importance of "civic community" in developing successful institutions Their focus is on a unique experiment begun in 1970 when Italy created new governments for each of its regions After spending two decades analyzing the efficacy of these governments in such fields as agriculture, housing, and health services, they reveal patterns of associationism, trust, and cooperation that facilitate good governance and economic prosperity
13,915 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1995
TL;DR: Fukuyama as discussed by the authors argued that the end of the Cold War would also mean the beginning of a struggle for position in the rapidly emerging order of 21st-century capitalism and argued that in an era when social capital may be as important as physical capital, only those societies with a high degree of social trust will be able to create the flexible, large scale business organizations that are needed to compete in the new global economy.
Abstract: In his bestselling "The End of History and the Last Man", Francis Fukuyama argued that the end of the Cold War would also mean the beginning of a struggle for position in the rapidly emerging order of 21st-century capitalism. In "Trust", a penetrating assessment of the emerging global economic order "after History", he explains the social principles of economic life and tells us what we need to know to win the coming struggle for world dominance. Challenging orthodoxies of both the left and right, Fukuyama examines a wide range of national cultures in order to divine the underlying principles that foster social and economic prosperity. Insisting that we cannot divorce economic life from cultural life, he contends that in an era when social capital may be as important as physical capital, only those societies with a high degree of social trust will be able to create the flexible, large-scale business organizations that are needed to compete in the new global economy. A brilliant study of the interconnectedness of economic life with cultural life, "Trust" is also an essential antidote to the increasing drift of American culture into extreme forms of individualism, which, if unchecked, will have dire consequences for the nation's economic health.
7,506 citations