UNU-WIDER Launch and Presentation of the WIDER Study Stranger than Fiction? Understanding Institutional Change and Economic Development

Institutional Change and Economic Development fills some important gaps in our understanding of the relationship between institutional changes and economic development. It does so by developing new discourses on the ‘technology of institution building’ and by providing detailed case studies—historical and more recent—of institution building. It is argued that functional multiplicity, the importance of informal institutions, unintended consequences, and intended ‘perversion’ of institutions all imply that the orthodox recipe of importing ‘best practice’ formal institutions does not work. While denying the existence of universal formulas, the volume distills some general principles of institutions building from theoretical explorations and case studies.

The study by the World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University (UNU-WIDER) has sought to provide insights that will allow for the better design, application, and interpretation of measures of achieved well-being.

The speakers are the director and contributors to the study. They will discuss and present key findings and policy recommendations.

Policy Brief summarizing the study: Stranger than Fiction? Understanding Institutional Changes and Economic Development (PDF 205KB)
Ha-Joon Chang, UNU Policy Brief No. 6, 2007

SPEAKERS

Ha-Joon Chang has taught at the Faculty of Economics and Politics, University of Cambridge, since 1990. His publications include Joseph Stiglitz and the World Bank: the Rebel Within (Anthem Press, 2003) and Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective (Anthem Press, 2002). He is the winner, together with Richard Nelson of Columbia University, of the 2005 Leontief Prize.

Jonathan Di John is a lecturer of Political Economy of Development in the Department of Development Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He is also a research fellow on the Crisis States Research Programme at the London School of Economics. Dr di John’s research focuses on the political economy of industrial policy and economic growth in Latin America, and the political economy of taxation and tax reform in less developed countries.

John Toye has been successively a Professor of Development Economics at the universities of Wales, Sussex, and Oxford. He has also worked for the United Nations, as a Director for the Globalizations Division of UNCTAD Secretariat 1998-2000. He has written seven books, his most recent being the UN and Global Economy.

DISCUSSANT

Frank Vibert is the co-founder and Director of the European Policy Forum in Pall Mall. He has previously worked as a Senior Advisor at the World Bank and a Senior Fellow at WIDER. He writes extensively on regulatory, institutional and constitutional topics. He is a member of the Advisory board of the Centre for the Analysis of Risk and Regulation (CARR) at the LSE and on the editorial board of the Journal of Public Policy.

Admission is free: the event starts at 19:00 hours and is followed by a reception.

WIDER Publications from the Institutional Change and Economic Development Study

Institutional Change and Economic Development
Edited by Ha-Joon Chang
(paperback) 9781843312819
Anthem Press (Co-published by UNU Press)
November 2007

Stranger than Fiction? Understanding Institutional Changes and Economic Development
Written by Ha-Joon Chang
UNU Policy Brief 6, 2007
(ISBN 9789280830422)

World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University (UNU-WIDER) undertakes multidisciplinary research and policy analysis on structural changes affecting the living conditions of the world’s poorest people; provides a forum for professional interaction and the advocacy of policies leading to robust, equitable and environmentally sustainable growth; and promotes capacity strengthening and training for scholars and government officials in the field of economic and social policy making. WIDER is the first research and training centre of the United Nations University (UNU), established in Helsinki, Finland in 1984.

The School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS. Since its formation in 1916, the School of Oriental and African Studies - or SOAS as it's better known - has built an enviable reputation around the globe for the calibre and quality of its courses, teaching and research. Part of the University of London, and located in the heart of the capital, SOAS continues to enhance its position as the world's leading centre for the study of a highly diverse range of subjects concerned with Asia, Africa and the Middle East. www.soas.ac.uk

Anthem Press. Anthem Press is pleased to announce The Anthem Other Canon Series. The Other Canon is 'Reality Economics', the study of the economy as a real object, not defined in terms of the adoption of core assumptions and techniques and the series will publish both classical and new works on evolutionary, institutional, and post-Keynesian economics, on the history of economic thought and economic policy, and on technology governance, as well as works in the traditions of the German historical school and in the theory of uneven development.

The series editors comprise the Executive Board of The Other Canon Foundation (Erik S. Reinert (lead), Wolfgang Drechsler, Rainer Kattel, Jan Kregel). www.anthempress.com, www.othercanon.org