The sharp division between the 'institutions view' and the 'disease view' has been one of the distinctive features of the 'root causes of economic progress' literature. Based on evidence from cross-national data, the 'institutions school' claims that institutions are the only root cause of...

In this paper we contribute to the debate over the empirical relationship between trade openness and economic development. Unlike previous studies which treat trade openness and institutions as competitors in economic development, we find evidence that they are in fact complements. We also find...

Recent research shows that the majority of cross-national variation in institutions is related to history. The within variation however is somewhat less explored. We find that the within variation in economic institutions can be explained by trade liberalization. This relationship is robust with...

Building on the recent literature on finance, growth and hunger, we have examined the experience of Asian countries over the last five decades, using dynamic panel models. Although the results are mixed, depending on the specification and variables used, there is some evidence favouring a...

Building on the recent literature on finance, growth and hunger, we have examined the experience of Asian countries over the period 1960-2010 by dynamic and static panel data models. We have found evidence favouring a positive role of finance - defined as private credit by banks - on growth of...