The new growth literature, using both endogenous growth and neoclassical models, has generated strong claims for the effect of national policies on economic growth. Empirical work on policies and growth has tended to confirm these claims. This paper casts doubt on this claim for strong effects...

This paper reviews, appraises, and critiques theoretical and empirical research on the connections between the operation of the financial system and economic growth. While subject to ample qualifications and countervailing views, the preponderance of evidence suggests that both financial...

The aim of this chapter is to analyze the economic properties and the institutions governing the start-up and evolution of cultural districts. Cultural districts are a good example of economic development based on localized firms and local culture. The first part of the chapter (Sections 1–2)...

This chapter begins by noting that culture as an element in economic development in the Third World has been largely neglected in traditional development economics, most writers either seeing culture as an obstacle to development or ignoring it altogether. Recently a shift in thinking has...

In most poor countries, large majorities of the population live in rural areas and earn their livelihoods primarily from agriculture. Many rural people in the developing world are poor, and conversely, most of the world's poor people inhabit rural areas. Agriculture also accounts for a...

Extension of factual and analytical work to policy issues has been a feature of agricultural economics from its beginnings, but only in recent decades have these efforts become part of the scientific core of what agricultural economists do. At the same time, the range of policy analysis has...

Military expenditure in developing countries raises complex questions regarding growth, development, security and governance. This chapter provides an analytical survey of the effects and causes of defense spending in developing economies. Using stylized facts, theoretical models and empirical...

This chapter reviews the experience of computable general equilibrium (CGE) models from the perspective of how they have, or have not, influenced public policy in developing countries. The paper describes different classes of empirical models from small, stylized to large, multisectoral applied...

This chapter develops a unified analytical framework, drawing on and extending the existing literature on the subject, for studying the role of property rights in economic development. It addresses two fundamental and related questions concerning the relationship between property rights and...