Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the Fifth Edition
- Abbreviations and Measures
- Part One. Principles and Concepts of Development
- 1 How the Other Two-Thirds Live
- 2 What Is Economic Development?
- 3 Economic Development in Historical Perspective
- 4 Characteristics and Institutions of Developing Countries
- 5 Theories of Economic Development
- Part Two. Poverty Alleviation and Income Distribution
- Part Three. Factors of Growth
- Part Four. The Macroeconomics and International Economics of Development
- Part Five. Development Strategies
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
- Endpapers
4 - Characteristics and Institutions of Developing Countries
from Part One. - Principles and Concepts of Development
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the Fifth Edition
- Abbreviations and Measures
- Part One. Principles and Concepts of Development
- 1 How the Other Two-Thirds Live
- 2 What Is Economic Development?
- 3 Economic Development in Historical Perspective
- 4 Characteristics and Institutions of Developing Countries
- 5 Theories of Economic Development
- Part Two. Poverty Alleviation and Income Distribution
- Part Three. Factors of Growth
- Part Four. The Macroeconomics and International Economics of Development
- Part Five. Development Strategies
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
- Endpapers
Summary
Poor countries have been held back not by a financing gap, but by an “institutions gap” and a “policy gap.”…The difference in management between, say, Thailand and Tanzania may have been worth about 4 percentage points of growth yearly. (World Bank 1998:33)
Scope of the Chapter
This chapter surveys the characteristics of developing countries, with particular emphasis on low-income economies. It looks at income distribution, political framework, family system, relative size of agriculture and industry, technology and capital levels, saving rates, dualism, international trade dependence, export patterns, population growth, labor-force growth, literacy and skill levels, and the nature of economic and political institutions, including governance; democracy and dictatorship; transparency; social capital; the state bureaucracy; tax-collecting capability; a legal and judicial system; property and use rights; statistical services and survey data; and land, capital, insurance, and foreign-exchange markets. Near the end of this chapter, we examine rent seeking and corruption and their relationships to state weakness and failure. Subsequent chapters expand on economic patterns of development.
Varying Income Inequality
As economic development proceeds, income inequality frequently follows an inverted U-shaped curve, first increasing (from low-income countries [LICs] to middle-income countries [MICs]) and then decreasing (from MICs to high-income countries [HICs]). Even so, the proportion of the population in poverty drops as per capita income increases (Chapter 6).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Economic Development , pp. 92 - 118Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012