Economists have long maintained that a well-developed and functioning financial system is a vital prerequisite to economic growth. Countries with robust banking sectors and securities markets-that is, countries in which credit cards, loans, mortgages, and the ability to issue stocks and bonds...

Economists emphasize the creation of markets as the central problem of development, encapsulated in the oft-used phrase, “get prices right.” In the economists’ approach, the role of the government is to provide a set of market-enhancing public goods, such as defining property rights,...

This article analyses the reason why the results have been frustrating for social reformers to promote democracy, markets, and the rule of law into the developing countries. Addressing the problem from three key dimensions: violence, perpetuity, and impersonality, the author points out that...

This paper extends the North, Wallis, and Weingast (2009) framework for understanding the problems of development. Our approach distinguishes two development problems that are normally conflated. Most approaches to development focus on the second problem, namely, the transition of societies from...