The role of institutions in Asian development has been intensely contested since Myrdal's Asian Drama, with later contributions from institutional economics and developmental state theory. Despite much progress, the dominant approaches do not agree about the institutions that matter nor do they...

Increased attention recently has been given to the desire to obtain an aggregrate index of economic development which reflects a multiplicity of influences on a nation's material progress and the welfare of its inhabitants. The article aims at discussing the problems associated with several...