Institutions, social change, and economic development in the periphery: A confrontation between neo-institutionalism and Arrighi and Piselli’s essay on Calabria

Abstract

The main purpose of this article is to confront the argument put forward by Giovanni Arrighi and Fortunata Piselli in their 1987 study on capitalist development in Calabria with recent, neo-institutionalist analyses of economic development. In particular, this article asks whether the main building blocks of Arrighi and Piselli’s analysis – the importance of social conflicts in determining the outcome of processes of social change, the multiple paths of peripheralization, the key role played by factor mobility across regions of the periphery – may be used in a discussion of current theories of economic development framed within neo-institutional theory. In particular, it can be argued that articulating a dialogue between neo-institutional analyses of economic change and Arrighi and Piselli’s approach may provide a very fruitful platform for a renewed discussion of the role of institutions in economic development, especially in the periphery of the world-economy. In addition, a reading of the 1987 essay informed by neo-institutional hypotheses and concerns may yield new insights to be gained from ‘Capitalist Development in a Hostile Environment’. The overarching concern of the article is theoretical, and the core of the article will be dedicated, therefore, to a confrontation between Arrighi and Piselli’s 1987 essay, on one hand, and, on the other hand, a selection of significant works within the vast literature that has emerged in recent decades on institutions and development.