Book Reviews

Abstract

Francesco Giavazzi of Bocconi University reviews “Institutions and Economic Performance” by Elhanan Helpman,. The EconLit Abstract of the reviewed work begins “Thirteen papers examine why income per capita varies so greatly across countries and the role of institutional differences. Papers discuss the impact of administrative power on political and economic developments--the move toward a political economy of implementation; the institutional origins of the Industrial Revolution; institutions and the resource curse in early modern Spain; slavery, inequality, and economic development in the Americas--an examination of the Engerman-Sokoloff hypothesis; economic and political inequality in development--the case of Cundinamarca, Colombia; the constitutional choice of bicameralism; economic development, insurgency, and civil war; party discipline and pork-barrel politics; policy persistence in multiparty parliamentary democracies; formalizing informal institutions--theory and evidence from a Kenyan slum; making autocracy work; democracy, technology, and growth; and the growth effect of democracy--whether it is heterogeneous and how it can be estimated. Helpman is Galen L. Stone Professor of International Trade at Harvard University and Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. Name and subject indexes.”