This study offers a method to estimate how the availability of distance-sensitive inputs affects industrial performance of neighboring countries. It shows that replacing either distant foreign input suppliers or inefficient local ones with neighboring suppliers, could enhance the competitiveness...

The book reviewed argues that over the course of a thousand years, 'living standards' in 'the Middle East' fell behind those in 'the West' because Islamic law held back the Middle East, and this was the cause not the consequence of the Middle East coming under foreign domination. The argument,...

In the year 1000, the economy of the Middle East was at least as advanced as that of Europe. But by 1800, the region had fallen dramatically behind--in living standards, technology, and economic institutions. In short, the Middle East had failed to modernize economically as the West surged...