Political Economy Of Growth Research Articles

The Imperialist World System: Paul Baran's <em>Political Economy of Growth</em> After Fifty Years

The concept of the imperialist world system in today predominant sense of the extreme economic exploitation of periphery by center, creating a widening gap between rich and poor countries, was largely absent from the classical Marxist critique of capitalism. Rather this view had its genesis in the 1950s, especially with the publication fifty years ago of Paul Baran's Political Economy of Growth. Baran's work helped inspire Marxist dependency and world system theories. But it was the new way of looking at imperialism that was the core of Baran's contribution. A half-century later it is important to ask: What was this new approach and how did it differ from then prevailing notions? What further changes in our understanding of imperialism are now necessary in response to changed historical conditions since the mid-twentieth century?This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

The Political Economy of Growth and Governance

There are diverse ideas about governance around the world, and this paper studies them through the following questions: (a) what does the available evidence tell us about the political and institutional requirements for sustained economic growth? (b) What do we need from the state to secure growth? (c) How do a country’s internal characteristics support or impede its growth? (d) How does the external environment of a country influence its economic growth prospects? These elements are then put together into a model of growth, from which we derive conclusions about governance arrangements. Thus the paper outlines a simple framework within which to think about the political economy of growth that can be summed up in five points: good government, with secure political conditions; credible macroeconomic stability; savings and investment high enough to sustain adequate growth; openness to the world economy; and the discipline of external engagement. It then argues that the growth model needs to be underpinned by suitable governance arrangements, and suggests that good governance has two main elements, each quite complex in practice, namely: protection of property rights, and accountability of government.

The political economy of growth in Morocco

This paper is an attempt to explain the relatively low performance of the Moroccan economy during the last four decades using a political economy approach. In that period, the Moroccan society benefited from sophisticated institutions that facilitated policy coordination and commitment. But, the existing institutions hampered the participation of large segments of the population and political parties representing them in the policymaking process. Also, the centralization of administration hindered local initiatives. However, numerous and significant structural reforms have been undertaken in the 1980s and 1990s and in recent years a strategy has been adopted that combines continued economic liberalization, increased democratization, and efforts to reduce poverty and promote human development. These changes have started to bear fruit in the past few years.

Andre Gunder Frank (1929-2005)

Andre Gunder Frank (1929-2005)

The political economy of growth collapses in mineral economies

Rents form a relatively high share of GDP in developing countries (from 15-50%), so that differences in the scale of the rent and in its distribution among economic agents profoundly affect the evolution of the political economy. This paper deploys two rent-driven political economy models to analyse the performance of four oil-exporting countries (Angola, Venezuela, Indonesia and Algeria). The low-rent model provides a counter-factual for the high-rent model, which typifies most oil-exporters. The low-rent model sustains rapid per capita GDP (PCGDP) growth that brings endogenous democratisation, which is incremental. In contrast, high-rent countries tend to deploy the rent in ways that lock the economy into a staple trap, which aborts competitive economic diversification and represses sanctions against anti-social governance. These adverse staple trap features are heightened in oil-exporting countries because they tend to have very high natural resource rent, which is easily extracted by governments. However, a growth collapse may abruptly trigger political and economic reform if exogenous factors are favourable. This paper applies the models to explain the disappointing oil-driven development in Angola and Venezuela, and also the apparent anomaly of Indonesian development during 1966-96. It concludes by outlining with reference to Algeria a dual track strategy to circumvent the political obstacles that prevent reform in a rent-distorted political economy.

The Political Economy of Growth in Latin America and East Asia: Some Empirical Evidence

This article examines the historical records of poor economic performance of Latin America compared to East Asia's relative success in the 1970s and 1980s. Although both regions adopted similar postwar protective inward‐oriented development strategies, their experiences and economic outcomes diverged significantly in subsequent years. Some have argued that East Asian countries outperformed Latin American ones because they implemented appropriate policies that were adaptive to changes in the global market scene. This study shows that the respective sociopolitical and institutional environment of the two regions was also an important factor contributing to their economic outcomes. A growth model augmented with policy‐driven and sociopolitical variables is developed. Using data for selected countries in both regions, the results confirm the hypothesis of a negative direct (efficiency) effect of sociopolitical instability on growth, with an additional indirect (accumulation) effect through investment, irrespective of a country's location. Policies adopted by governments, particularly to control inflation and foreign indebtedness and to enhance economic freedom and human capital accumulation, appear crucial for stability. Such policies influenced economic performance through both the direct and the indirect channels. (JEL B25, E13, F43, H19, O57)

The Political Economy of Growth: Democracy and Human Capital

The Political Economy of Growth: Democracy and Human Capital

Geopolitics, the State, and Political Economy of Growth in Taiwan

Geopolitics, the State, and Political Economy of Growth in Taiwan

Développements récents en économie politique de la croissance. Un survol rapide

Recent developments in political economy of growth: a short survey ; ; In this paper, we survey the recent literature in Political Economy of Growth and Inequalities. We develop a simple framework to illustrate the classical elements of a model of Political Economy of Growth and to discuss the key issues of that literature. The paper then concentrates on the problem of endogenous transition of political systems in the growth process and discusses briefly some avenues for future research.

Geopolitics, the state, and political economy of growth in Taiwan

Geopolitics, the state, and political economy of growth in Taiwan

The underside of progress: Land, labor, and violence in two Philippine growth zones, 1985–1995

This article focuses on the role of violence, intimidation, and political conflict in setting the terms under which industrialization and other forms of capitalist development are proceeding in suburban growth zones in the Philippines. Conflicts, often violent and protracted, over land usage and labor rights have pitted the suburban poor—tenant farmers, squatters, and laborers—against powerful local government officials, real estate moguls, manufacturing firms, and labor racketeers in the growth zones. Drawing on research in the provinces of Cavite and Cebu, the author traces the different ways in which violence and intimidation have driven down the price of land and labor in order to attract investment and to enforce a highly skewed distribution of the fruits of growth. The study of the political economy of growth in Southeast Asia, the article suggests, must include an appreciation of the role of politics in determining the factors of production—not just capital, but land and labor as well.

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this articles: The Philippines: the political economy of growth and impoverishment in the Mairos era James K. Boyce Poverty, Growth and the Fiscal Crisis Emmanuel S. de Dios and Associates Rural Enterprises in China Christopher Findlay, Andrew Watson and Harry X. Wu Rural China in Transition: non‐agricultural development in rural Jiangsu, 1978–1990 S. P. S. Ho China, Modernisation and the Goal of Prosperity: government administration and economic policy in the late 1980s Kate Hannan (ed.) China: internal market darelopment and regulation The Economic Growth of Singapore: trade and development in the twentieth century W. G. Huff Challenge and Response: thirty years of the Economic Development Board Helen Hughes, Linda Low, Toh Mun Heng, Soon Teck Wong and Tan Kong Yam The Political Economy of Agricultural Pricing Policy, Volume 5: a synthesis of the political economy in developing countries Anne O. Krueger Indonesia Assessment 1994. Finance as a Key Sector in Indonesia's Development Ross H. McLeod (ed.) Debt, Deficits and Exchange Rates: essays on financial interdependence and development Helmut Reisen A Nation in Waiting: Indonesia in the 1990s Adam Schwarz Approaching Suharto's Indonesia fmm the Margins Takashi Shiraishi (ed.) Telecommunications Sector Reform in Asia: toward a new pragmatism Peter L. Smith and G. Staple ASEAN‐China Economic Relations: industrial restructuring in ASEAN and China Joseph L. H. Tan and Luo Zhaohong (eds) China's Coastal Cities: catalysts for modernization Yue‐man Yeung and Xu‐wei Hu (eds)

Social Structures of Accumulation: The Political Economy of Growth and Crisis.

Social Structures of Accumulation: The Political Economy of Growth and Crisis.

The Philippines: The Political Economy of Growth and Impoverishment in the Marcos Era. James K. Boyce

<i>The Philippines: The Political Economy of Growth and Impoverishment in the Marcos Era</i>. James K. Boyce

On Capitalism and Agrestic Unfreedom

The proposition is not new that the freedom of labour is not a necessary accompaniment of the growth of capitalist production; and that conditions of non-market duress upon labour ranging from outright slavery to indenture and restrictions on mobility have been a typical feature of the world-wide growth of capitalism. Indeed the very title of Eric Williams' seminal book Capitalism and Slavery, which explored the interlinkages between the rise of capitalist manufacturing industry in Britain and the exploitation of the slave labour-based plantation system of the West Indies, exemplified this understanding. Ernest Mandel in his Marxist Economic Theory, which in fact dealt as much with historical description as with theory, also analysed the role of duress in the operation of the colonial system, as did P. A. Baran in his Political Economy of Growth. To the present author who shares Williams's perception, in particular that the colonial system and the later working of imperialism were crucially dependent on the imposition of unfree conditions upon Third World labour (particularly wherever labour migration was induced), Tom Brass's general emphasis on the lack of correspondence between capitalism and freedom of labour seems quite unexceptionable.

Book Review: The Philippines: The Political Economy of Growth and Impoverishment in the Marcos Era

Book Review: The Philippines: The Political Economy of Growth and Impoverishment in the Marcos Era

The Philippines: The Political Economy of Growth and Impoverishment in the Marcos Era. By James K. Boyce. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press in association with the OECD Development Centre, 1993. Pp. xv, 405. $32.95, cloth; $18.95, paper.

The Philippines: The Political Economy of Growth and Impoverishment in the Marcos Era. By James K. Boyce. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press in association with the OECD Development Centre, 1993. Pp. xv, 405. 18.95, paper. - Volume 55 Issue 1

The Philippines: The Political Economy of Growth and Impoverishment in the Marcos Era

(1995). The Philippines: The Political Economy of Growth and Impoverishment in the Marcos Era. Economic Geography: Vol. 71, Theme Issue: Collaboration and Competition in Geographie Context, pp. 103-105.

The Philippines: The Political Economy of Growth and Impoverishment in the Marcos Era. By James K. Boyce. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1993. xv, 405 pp. $32.95 (cloth); $18.95 (paper).

The Philippines: The Political Economy of Growth and Impoverishment in the Marcos Era. By James K. Boyce. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1993. xv, 405 pp. $32.95 (cloth); $18.95 (paper).

The Political Economy of Growth: A Critical Survey of the Recent Literature

This article reviews the recent literature on the political economy of growth, focusing on the research that has developed at the intersection of the endogenous growth literature and the new political economy. It explores the relationships among four key variables: economic growth and capital accumulation, political instability, political freedom and democratic institutions, and income inequality.