Article

The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some are So Rich and Some So Poor

Authors:
To read the full-text of this research, you can request a copy directly from the author.

Abstract

The history of nations is a history of haves and have-nots, and as we approach the millennium, the gap between rich and poor countries is widening. In this engrossing and important new work, eminent historian David Landes explores the complex, fascinating and often startling causes of the wealth and poverty of nations. The answers are found not only in the large forces at work in economies: geography, religion, the broad swings of politics, but also in the small surprising details. In Europe, the invention of spectacles doubled the working life of skilled craftsmen, and played a prominent role in the creation of articulated machines, and in China, the failure to adopt the clock fundamentally hindered economic development. The relief of poverty is vital to the survival of us all. As David Landes brilliantly shows, the key to future success lies in understanding the lessons the past has to teach us - lessons uniquely imparted in this groundbreaking and vital book which exemplifies narrative history at its best.

No full-text available

Request Full-text Paper PDF

To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.

... It is possible that, in addition to collectivist values, the centralization of political authority was necessary for constructing and managing large-scale irrigation systems, and that once these networks were built, the control of water resources gave rulers the power to turn these societies into persistent absolutist states (Wittfogel, 1957). 50 Mokyr (1990), Landes (1999). 51 Bentzen (2019). ...
... Landes (2006). ...
... Cohn et al. (2019).24 Both quotations appear inLandes (1999), on p. 350 and p. 561, respectively. ...
... A growing body of research investigates cost-of-living expenses for low-income workers, but few studies investigate financial costs associated with belonging to the middle class (Flores, 2023;Rehman et al., 2022;Clément et al., 2022;Cummins, 2021;Lufumpa, 2014;Banerjee & Duflo, 2008;Warren & Tyagi, 2004). However, the middle class is repeatedly esteemed as the key to a country's future (López-Calva & Ortiz-Juarez, 2023;Frederick, 2002) and national economic growth (Easterly, 2001;Landes, 1998). Birdsall et al. (2000) even describe this group as "the backbone of both the market economy and of democracy" (p. ...
... Moreover, investigating middle-class spending has led scholars to conclude that this group plays a major role in a country's economic growth and national development (Frederick, 2022;Easterly, 2001;Landes, 1998;Atkinson & Brandolini, 2013). Research suggests, however, that middle class people are arguably less concerned with their role as a class in national development than they are in acquiring the status symbols and attendant prestige that designate them as members of the middle class (Flores, 2023;Bourdieu, 2016). ...
Article
Full-text available
This study estimates cost-of-living expenses for middle-class families in The Bahamas. It is an extension of the 2020 Bahamas Living Wages Survey (Archer et al., 2021b) that provided cost-of-living estimates for lower-income families using the Anker and Anker methodology that combines primary data collection through surveys with analysis of secondary data using statistical reports and government documents.
... To an extent, but as historian David Landes notes, the mutually reinforcing phenomena of culture and place matter when it comes to entrepreneurship and the growth (and survival) of firms. 132 The spirit of Canadian capitalism has often been cautious and conservative, including the decision makers at Labatt. Labatt managers needed to take calculated risks and then pursue them aggressively, but they chose not to. ...
Article
During the last three decades of the twentieth century, John Labatt Ltd., one of Canada’s oldest and most successful breweries, attempted to gain a share of the British beer market. This article examines the push and pull factors of why foreign brewers like Labatt decided to enter the competitive British marketplace and analyzes the strategies of the winners and losers of the “lager war.” The article pays attention to the branding efforts of marketing managers and how some used product–place associations to imbue their brands with authenticity. While positive country images often lead to a favorable assessment of the products from that country, it is also true that unfavorable perceptions often foster negative assessments of their products. By examining the entrepreneurship and structural barriers of the beer industry in the United Kingdom toward the end of the twentieth century, the article adds to our understanding of the dynamics of business failure.
... Societies differ across the globe in their norms, psychological outlook, and economic preferences. A puzzle within the social sciences is why such differences tend to persist over time (41)(42)(43)(44). For millennia, religious systems have been intertwined with cultural traditions, galvanized social cohesion, and informed what people consider true, sacred, and moral in societies worldwide. ...
Preprint
Full-text available
As a cultural species, humans show marked global diversity in preferences, beliefs, and behaviors (cultural traits). Of the many types of cultural traits, which ones generate the most global diversity across countries? We address this question by analyzing data for 640,110 individuals from 117 countries, 2,333 sub-national districts worldwide, and 13 birth cohorts surveyed in the World Values Survey (WVS) and the European Values Study (EVS). We measure cultural diversity using the standard Cultural Fixation Index (CFst). Across multiple sets of comparable cultural traits, we find that religious cultural traits are globally most diverse. In personal values, the emphasis on religion differs 5-10 times more than the emphasis on family, politics, or work effort across countries. Similarly, in qualities important for raising children, religion showed the most cultural divergence. Diversity in religious membership is also significantly higher, compared to memberships in political, environmental or sports organizations. This global divergence had two distinct sources: it was partly the result of differences among particular religious groups, namely Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, and Hindus; but in large part it was due to individual differences in the strength of religious engagement, irrespective of religious tradition. The results reveal the pervasive role of religion and secularization in the cultural evolution of societies.
... To make those points, Miller draws upon several economic historians (e.g. Acemoglu et al., 2001;Harrison and Huntington, 2000;Landes, 1998). However, there is also a critical strand of empirical research that Miller has avoided (e.g. ...
Article
The global affluent are contributing to and benefiting from the systemic cause of economic misery and ecological unsustainability. Some philosophers have invoked this relational point to discuss the responsibility of the affluent because by doing so, they assume, one can formulate a more compelling argument than non-relational arguments. This paper supports this relational strand by drawing upon David Miller’s theory of ‘remedial responsibility.’ Although Miller himself seems to deny the said relational point, this paper shall defend it based upon critical economic studies. The first section summarises Miller’s non-relational argument. The second section assesses it, and in the process develops what can be described as a ‘relational remedial theory of global justice.’ The third section discusses a few significant problems that this theory would encounter. Specifically, it argues that the establishment of a ‘cosmopolitan democracy,’ which would facilitate dialogues among global citizens, may serve to overcome those problems.
... Culture plays a crucial role in business operations by shaping organizational values, beliefs, and behaviors. An extensive branch of literature highlights the profound cultural distinctions between the "East" and the "West" (Landes, 1999;Rosenberg & Birdzell, 1986;Weber, 1958). Eastern countries are commonly more collectivistic compared to Western ones. ...
Article
Full-text available
Ecological theory always treats culture as a response to the demands of the environment. Farming, in the history of the world, has significantly influenced the formation of human culture. This paper examines the relationship between managers’ rice culture and corporate tax avoidance. The main finding shows managers from collectivist rice planting areas are less likely to engage in tax avoidance activities. This link is more pronounced in firms with better governance and greater gender diversification and in firms where managers have academic experience. Additionally, the relationship is enhanced in areas with higher regional trust areas and higher tax enforcement regions. Finally, our results are robust to a battery of additional analyses. Overall, our study supports the important role of cultural factors in corporate strategic decision-making.
... Fortunately, a range of other potential factors -whether they actually constituted root causes, co-drivers or contributing factors remains for future research to determine -have already been investigated by other scholars such as Jared M. Diamond (1997) and David S. Landes (1998). These two seminal books aptly frame Henrich's contribution in both time and space, with Diamond outlining the structures and preconditions of the natural environment that ultimately gave Europe the edge over other parts of the world, and Landes providing a global economic history that emphasizes how, in the long term, different cultures, ideologies and policy decisions determine a society's economic success. ...
Article
Full-text available
Review of: Henrich, Joseph: "The Weirdest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous". 680 pp. London etc.: Penguin Books, 2021. ISBN 978-0-141-97621-1.
... These core values, understandings, assumptions, and principles of environmental context, historical backdrop (Landes, 1999), and contemporary ethos are the true drivers of how people perceive and misconstrue project management, its mechanisms, and its effectiveness. Much of the differences between what we ascribe as traditional versus modern project management are based on these forces rather than the mechanisms employed whether for global cooperation (Stare, 2013), for state level programmes, civil infrastructure, IT projects management, and all other fields that now utilise project management as a tool for driving and sustaining change (Quist, 2015). ...
Article
Full-text available
Executive Summary Traditional and Modern methodologies for project management and team management has been touted to be very different based on assumptions, principles, practices, processes, and limitations. Further study of literature, research, and field experience portray a more dynamic story of interplay between the applicability and inappropriateness of various methodologies. This depends on the context within which different types of projects operate, strategic drivers that underpin it, economic fuel that constrains or liberates resource provisioning tactics, and people aspects of any social constructs that characterises projects, companies, and institutions more than processes, products, and technologies. The difficult decision points in pursuing profound and impactful human endeavors are rarely those that chooses between what is correct or wrong, nor whether it is truthful or false. What is profoundly difficult is the choice between two correct notions or different workable solutions; conversely, the same can be said between the discernment and choice between the lesser of two evils. What may break the stalemate is simple diligence and the wisdom to go beyond surface noise competing for attention and to understand the signal that beckons to be perceived by which directions and decisions must be made. Ultimately, the wisdom may prove to be a synthesis rather than a contrast of choices; whether that fusion of various lenses and thinking hats is an easy goal or a hard-fought win borne of experience and erudition is a different matter. But, persevere, we must, for so much is at stake. If history is any guide, the consequences of project failures impacts the project teams less but hurt the stakeholders that we frequently ignore more: the taxpayers for their sacrifices and our colleagues who stand to benefit less from projects individually but may helplessly lose livelihoods should those in charge neglect the significance of the responsibility they bear.
... Ayrıca, ekonomi tarihçilerinin de ifade ettiği üzere, geçmişte bilginin ve dolayısıyla bu bilgiyi yaygınlaştırmak için gerekli olan eğitimin modernleşme ve teknolojik avantaj elde etme hususunda önemli bir itici gücü olduğu, sonrasında ise hızlı kalkınmaya dönüştüğü ve küresel siyasi etkileri teşvik ettiği çok sayıda durum yer almıştır. (Landes, 1998). ...
Article
Güç, uluslararası ilişkilerde temel bir kavram olup devletler arasındaki etkileşimlerde belirleyici rol oynamaktadır. Realizm, liberalizm ve konstrüktivizm gibi teoriler gücün doğasını farklı açılardan incelemektedir. Realizm, devletlerin güç ve güvenlik arayışında olduğunu savunurken, liberalizm uluslararası iş birliği ve normların önemini vurgulamaktadır. Konstrüktivizm ise fikirler, normlar ve değerlerin etkisine odaklanmaktadır. Sert güç, askeri ve ekonomik baskıya dayanırken, yumuşak güç kültürel çekicilik, diplomasi ve eğitim aracılığıyla etki oluşturmaktadır. Joseph Nye tarafından geliştirilen yumuşak güç kavramı, kültür, siyasi değerler ve politikaların çekiciliğine dayanmaktadır. Eğitim ve onun bir parçası olan yükseköğretim yumuşak gücün önemli bir aracı olarak, devletlerin uluslararası alanda cazibe ve etki yaratmasını sağlamaktadır. Uluslararası öğrenciler ve sahip olunan eğitim sistemi, bir devletin yumuşak gücünü artırarak küresel düzeyde daha güçlü bir etki oluşturmaktadır.
... It goes without saying that there are many other definitions more or less similar to the above definition. Although Chase and Aquilano (1989) precisely documented the historical development of the OM starting with its real roots given by Taylor (1911), operations management is as old as industry itself (Bicheno and Elliot, 1997) and was articulated in the context of industrial production only after the 1600s (Baber, 1996;Landes, 1998). Table 1 gives the updated view of the historical development of operations management from beginning of its modern era. ...
Article
Full-text available
This paper aims to explore the recent trends in modern operations management aiming at a better understanding of the current developments in this area. Discussing the general picture of operations management, this paper aims to highlight the most important and popular trends at the moment. With the help of identifying most important trends, paper try to find out how they are drastically affecting the way operations management is conceived. Limitations of this may include the superficial discussions of several trends and omissions of other important trends due to lack of scope. Operations management appears to be gaining position as a respected academic discipline. Therefore, this is a good time to update the evolution in this field. To achieve this goal, the major publications/citations in this field and their evolving research utility over the decades is also identified in this survey paper.
... It is widely accepted that culture is a significant determinant of economic growth. Landes (1998) indicates that the history of economic development proves the impact of culture. Weber (1930) was the first author to write about the relation between culture and economy (Harutyunyan & Özak, 2017). ...
Article
Full-text available
The study focused on the effect of start-up culture on entrepreneurial development in Nigeria (A study of selected SMEs in south-south, Nigeria). The specific objectives sought to achieve in this study, included to: examine the effect of individualism culture on Entrepreneurial growth of selected SMEs in South-South Nigeria, determine the effect of collectivism culture on Entrepreneurial survival of selected SMEs in South-South Nigeria, assess the effect of National culture on Entrepreneurial customer satisfaction of selected SMEs in South-South Nigeria. A survey research design was adopted for the study. The study had a population size of 1632, out of which a sample size of 321 was realized using Taro Yamanes's formula at 5% error tolerance and 95% level of confidence. The instrument used for data collection was primarily questionnaire. Though out of 321 copies of the questionnaire that were distributed, 298 copies were returned while 23 were not returned. The questionnaire were analyzed using Likert scale and tabulation. The hypotheses were tested using Regression and Pearson Product Moment Correlation statistical tools. The findings indicate that individualism culture has significant effect on entrepreneurial growth of selected SMEs in South-South Nigeria, collectivism culture has significant effect on entrepreneurial survival of selected SMEs in South-South Nigeria, national culture has significant effect on entrepreneurial customer satisfaction of selected SMEs in South-South Nigeria. The study recommended the need to improve entrepreneurship education, embracement of communalism and entrepreneurial value, regular evaluation of culture in order to promote entrepreneurial survival as well as support SMEs as this has important implications for promoting green development and foster expansion and growth.
... La seconde approche est l ' approche culturelle ou la théorie de différences institutionnelles fondées sur des différences de valeurs culturelles ou de croyances idéologiques. Les tenants de cette approche soutiennent que les différences entre pays, en ce qui concerne la qualité des institutions sont dues aux différences idéologiques à propos des bonnes valeurs sociales : toutes les sociétés n ' auraient pas la même conception de ce qui est bien pour leurs membres (Landes, 1998 ;Putnam, 1993). L ' approche historique ou la théorie de différences institutionnelles dues aux facteurs historiques, est la troisième approche. ...
Article
Full-text available
L’objectif : L'objectif de cet article est d'analyser la relation entre la corruption, les droits de propriété et la croissance économique dans les pays d’Afrique subsaharienne. Conception/méthodologie/approche: Le modèle utilisé dans ce travail est inspiré par Aziz et Asadullah (2016) et Walid et Kais (2019), dont la base théorique est la fonction de production Cobb-Douglas, qui comprend deux composantes majeures, à savoir le travail et le capital et d'autres facteurs institutionnels. Ainsi, l'analyse de l'interaction entre les droits de propriété, la corruption et la croissance économique est effectuée à l'aide d'un modèle VAR en panel. Résultats: Les résultats montrent que la corruption a un effet positif sur la croissance économique alors que la croissance économique n'a aucun effet sur la corruption. Les droits de propriété favorisent la croissance économique tandis que la croissance économique ne contribue pas à protéger les droits de propriété. La corruption a un effet négatif sur les droits de propriété tandis que les droits de propriété n'ont pas d'effet sur la corruption. Originalité/valeur : L’originalité réside dans l’analyse du rôle ambigu de la corruption en lien avec les droits de la propriété, et la croissance économique à l’échelle de nombreux pays africains.
... However, Landes's research does not show any single-cause theory of national wealth and poverty. Landers does recognize the important influence of a country's political culture in her economic development, but he does not take it as the only decisive factor (David Landes, 1998). ...
... This feedback process is defined differently depending on whether it is an economic, political, or cultural approach. Economic theories hold that institutions are created and empowered when it is efficient to do so (Demsetz, 1967); political theories focus on redistribution rather than efficiency and sustain that those in power shape institutions to stay there (North, 1990;Olson, 1993); in cultural theories, societies hold beliefs that govern the creation and maintenance of formal institutions (Putnam, 1993;Landes, 1998). ...
Article
Full-text available
This paper quantitatively explores the significance of social capital in enhancing international financial inclusion, with a specific focus on its usage dimension, represented by formal credit coverage. Through panel FGLS (Feasible Generalized Least Squares) and PCSE (Panel Corrected Standard Errors) analysis of a sample comprised of 24 countries for the period 2006 – 2021 and utilizing data obtained from diverse sources, it demonstrates that a country's credit coverage is influenced by both informal and formal social capital while controlling by factors such as access channels to financial products, measures to address asymmetric information and educational levels. The results underscore that, while financial inclusion is promoted through internationally accepted standards, its effectiveness is closely intertwined with the social context of implementation. Furthermore, formal institutions play a crucial role in shaping financial inclusion by fostering innovation, entrepreneurship, and technological advancement, while attitudes to risk and planning time horizons also significantly impact this dynamic. Notably, nations embracing a pragmatic outlook tend to have more viable access to bank loans, whereas risk aversion impedes economic actors´ propensity to engage in credit agreements, even when accessible.
... In some cases, this perspective treats Eurasia essentially as a network or system of linkages (Dale 1994;Bentley 1998;Abu-Lughod 1998;Lieberman 1999;Gann 2003), while elsewhere greater Eurasia is considered as a cohesive historical-geographical entity-a "Eurasian ecumenical whole," as William McNeill (1964; puts it-characterized by an enduring historical distinctiveness and a special role in global history. The importance of environmental conditions continues to be emphasized, but rather than bifurcating the continent as before these are now seen as unifying factors (Diamond 1997;Landes 1998). This notion of greater Eurasian unity is then projected onto the present and future in a body of literature dealing with the twenty-fi rst-century economic integration of the "Eurasian 'supercontinent,'" stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacifi c and from the Arctic to the Indian Ocean (Stokhof et al. 2004;Linn and Tiomkin 2005;Linn and Tiomkin 2006;Cho 2007;Roessler 2009;Vinokurov and Libman 2012). ...
Chapter
Full-text available
Article
Full-text available
This article discusses the development of mass production technology in the United States. Like spaceflight and the computer, this technology grew out of a state-led effort to promote technical progress in weapons and defense production, giving rise to what was known in the 19th century as the “American System of manufactures”. Though the roots of this system in military-industrial policy are well-established, economists continue to suggest that technical progress in 19th-century America was a market-driven affair, led by entrepreneurs eager to reduce production costs and obtain patents. We offer a different perspective, based on extensive historical research on this topic. We discuss the origins of interchangeable parts technology in Europe, its early development in the United States, and its diffusion to consumer goods manufacturing after 1850. We also reflect on the reasons for the United States War Department’s interest in this technology after 1800.
Article
A balanced growth path that accounts for a decline in hours worked per worker approximates the evolution of today’s industrialized countries since 1870. This stylized fact is explained in an overlapping generations (OLG) model featuring two-period lived individuals equipped with per-period utility functions of the generalized log-log type proposed by Boppart and Krusell (2020) and a neoclassical production sector. Technological progress drives real wages up and expands the amount of consumption goods. The value of leisure increases, and the supply of hours worked declines. Technological progress moves a poor economy out of a regime with low wages and an inelastic supply of hours worked into a regime with high wages and a declining supply of hours worked. The balanced growth path is unique and stable. In the high wage regime, the equilibrium difference equation is available in closed form. A balanced growth path with declining hours worked may also be obtained with endogenous technological progress as in Romer (1986).
Article
يؤكد الاقتصاد المؤسسي الجديد ضرورة وجود مؤسسات قوية وفعالة لتحقيق النمو والتنمية، ودعم التغييرات الهيكلية في أي دولة؛ ولذلك تهدف هذه الورقة إلى تحليل تطور أداء مصر في مؤشرات الحوكمة، وانعكاس ذلك على النمو الاقتصادي، فضًلا عن عرض تجارب بعض الدول في الإصلاح المؤسسي وتعزيز الحوكمة، من أجل استخلاص الدروس المستفادة وتقديم مقترحات لتحسين الأداء المؤسسي في مصر، الأمر الذي من شأنه تسريع عملية الوصول إلى أهداف التنمية المستدامة و بناء الدولة المصرية الجديدة. وتتبع الورقة منهجية الوصف التحليلي ودراسة الحالة في تحليل أداء مصر فيما يتعلق بالجودة المؤسسية والنمو الاقتصادي، وعرض تجارب الدول المشابهة في هذا الصدد، واستخلاص الدروس المستفادة. وقد بدأت الدراسة بعرض نتائج الأدبيات السابقة حول العلاقة بين الإصلاح المؤسسي أو الحوكمة والنمو والتنمية المستدامة، يليها تحليل لأداء مصر في أهم مؤشرات جودة المؤسسات والحوكمة، وتطور النمو الاقتصادي بداية من عام 2010 وحتى عام 2022 )أو حتى أحدث بيان متاح(، و رصد التجارب العالمية الناجحة في مجال الإصلاح المؤسسي في الدول التي تتشابه في خصائصها المؤسسية والاقتصادية والسياسية مع مصر وذلك بهدف الوقوف على أبرز مجالات الإصلاح التي نجحت فيها. وأخيرا، تم عرض أهم جهود الإصلاح التي قامت بها مصر خلال العقد الماضي، و مناقشة أهم التحديات التي تواجهها الدولة، والسياسات المقترحة للتغلب عليها. تؤكد الدراسة الأهمية البالغة لعملية الإصلاح المؤسسي وتطبيق الحوكمة، على الرغم من كونها عملية معقدة، تتطلب الكثير من الوقت والموارد لتحقيق إصلاح شامل في المجالات المرجوة كافة، و توصلت إلى ضرو رة تحديد رؤية استراتيجية موحدة للإصلاح المؤسسي لضمان الاستمرارية والشمولية والتوازن، خلل مراحل الإعداد والتنفيذ؛ لتحقيق التناسق والتعاون بين مجاالت الإصلاح المؤسسي المختلفة.
Chapter
There is an overall Eurocentric narrative at the root of cultural essentialism that we call the ‘maritime versus continental civilizations’ (MvC) narrative. According to it, Europe constituted a ‘maritime civilization’, ‘outwardly oriented’, and ‘fearless’ of the sea’s hazards, while China, which serves as an illustration of non-Europe, was a ‘continental civilization’, ‘inwardly oriented’, and ‘shying away’ from the sea’s hazards. The ‘M’ component of the MvC narrative is none other than the ‘voyages of discovery’ narrative; while Needham’s claims about China cited by Floris Cohen in Chap. 9 constitute some of the elements comprising the ‘C’ component. The ‘C’ component is deconstructed by examining China’s ecological and economic diversity, the resulting important role of commerce, the shift of the country’s centre of gravity over time to the coastal regions, and so on, showing that the construction of the ‘C’ component is possible only because of ignorance of these aspects about China.
Chapter
What is the future of sovereignty? This work argues that the size and shape of nations is likely to continue to devolve, and the Americas offer a helpful laboratory for thinking about new forms of sovereignty because of their diverse experiments with decentralization. All parallels are imperfect, but the early Americas in particular provide unusually good examples of how small numbers of people with force projection problems cobble together cohesive polities across a range of geographic, economic, military, and ideological circumstances.
Preprint
Full-text available
Growth and wealth are the two sides of the same Holy Coin. This coin is not easy to grasp. The quest for it has involved talented economists, historians, social scientists. The burning question asked by David S. Landes remains unanswered: "Why are we so rich and they so poor?" Hernando De Soto, a Peruvian economist, recently suggested that the lack of legally enforceable rights is a likely culprit. In poor countries, capital is dead and remains dead. We venture another (complementary) explanation: the risk-sharing divide. The fate of far too many people and businesses is dictated by a game of chance, especially in poor countries. This game of fool is perpetuated by the procrastinations and shady deals of developed and poor countries whose governing elites deprive people and businesses from financial freedom more often than not. This is the root of unjustifiable inequalities. It prevents most people from having access to accumulating assets. They just end up managing by. There is only one-way out: Financial forces have to be unleashed (Briys and de Varenne (1999, 2000), Brenner (2002)). New risk-sharing institutions and arrangements have to be promoted. Financial markets in the usual sense warrant openness. We need more than openness. We need accountable eccentricity, that is we need to make sure that brains and finance (read equity, debt, hybrid securities, derivatives, securitization etc…) meet seamlessly, creatively under the proper maze of checks and balances-both private and public (courts and police). The task is difficult but this is the price to pay to eradicate the risk-sharing divide.
Thesis
Full-text available
This study aims to explore and investigate the contemporary perceptions, understanding, and implicit semantic meanings of cyber and cyberspace. While the concepts from the surface and within common social conversational context seem simple and obvious, deeper investigation of literature and institutional policy doctrines reveals that prevailing definitions have minimal mutual understanding, and that definitions of scope, scale, and semantics are sector specific and minimally transferrable to other contexts. It also overlaps excessively with adjunct conceptual entities like 'digital', 'internet', 'Internet', virtual worlds, metaverse, and others creating ambiguity and conflicts. Additionally, a sub-function of cyber, namely cybersecurity, became the proxy and de facto entity that represents the cyber practice across public policy, private enterprises and investments, and military or institutional domain definitions. Key questions centre around (i) the definition and scope of what cyber and cyberspace are from the perspective of institutions and its people, be it in the public sector or private enterprises; and (ii) how this relates to the direction, maturity, competitiveness, adaptability, trustworthiness, and effectiveness with its organisational purpose. The research process embodied an overarching qualitative grounded theory methodology, using only minimal assumptions as anchor concepts or scaffolds for taxonomy. These conceptual frameworks were mainly based on information systems theory, enterprise architecture paradigms, and prevailing doctrines defined by large institutions like the military and its sovereign state. The assumptions and propositions initially established were enhanced and expanded significantly based on wise feedback and actionable insights that were in fact, already in practice for organisations and functions that have achieved a high level of maturity, regardless of variances in the sophistication it entails. This allows or enables effective and competent delivery of the purpose of the organisation, thus ultimately leading to public trust in institutions, customer satisfaction for private enterprises, and social benefit when waste and needless ambiguity are given clarity.
Preprint
Full-text available
Given names hide crucial information about cultural attitudes and beliefs that sheds light on how parents raised their children and the importance they attached to education and other values. Relying on the 1860 Population census for the province of Zaragoza (Spain; almost 400,000 observations), this article shows that naming practices, captured by whether children bear more or less common names and/or were named after their parents, help predicting their educational outcomes, even after controlling for a host of individual-, household-and community-level confounders. Crucially, these results differ by sex, birth-order, socioeconomic status and the urban-rural divide, which allows identifying the mechanisms in place. In particular, bearing a common name is negatively associated with the likelihood of girls attending school and being literate in rural areas. By contrast, being named after parents had a positive influence on boys' education, a pattern that is especially visible for the eldest son from families who have access to land. In addition, the results reported here are stronger in more complex household arrangements. These results therefore stress the role played by inheritance customs and the continuity of the family line on both naming practices and the way that parents allocated resources between their siblings, as well as highlighting the different expectations around the role that sons and daughters played in these societies.
Chapter
We have seen in Chap. 3 that since 1978, the introduction of market mechanisms has degenerated into a surge in inequalities and aggravated the environmental damages already existing during the Maoïst period. In fact, the liberalization introduced through market mechanisms is quite limited. It is not about leaving the economy free to develop in any direction or in the interest of a minority group. Certainly, by doing so, the Party-State had to make concessions and compromises. It had to accept the emergence of new socio-economic categories, which could attempt to make the most of this limited new freedom to pursue purely personal interests. This may be the result of the emergence of what some called a new class of ‘Red Capitalists.’
Article
China's largely sustained impressive economic resurgence of almost half a century has captivated the world; yet its journey to prosperity was marred by a prolonged divergence from Western Europe, known as the Great Divergence. This article analyzes the intricacies of this historical phenomenon, tracing the divergent paths of China and Western Europe from a shared starting point around the mid-eighteenth century. Drawing on a multidisciplinary approach, including historical analysis and economic theory, the paper tracks the underlying factors that propelled Western Europe ahead while China languished behind. It explores the role of environment, technology, and institutions in shaping the divergent trajectories of these economies. Additionally, this paper examines the enigma of China's sustained economic growth amidst limited democratization, challenging conventional wisdom about the prerequisites of democracy for development. Through a cursory review of China's modern development path, this paper sheds light on the intricate interplay of historical, institutional, and economic forces that have shaped China's journey from early modern ear divergence to modern day resurgence. Keywords: great divergence, great convergence, development miracle, Chinese resurgence
Article
Full-text available
We study the association of shareholder returns with liberalization in government policy during Britain's railway run-up of 1844–5. The findings sustain two main claims. First, the railway returns during the run-up were associated with the advent of liberalizing policies, especially related to free trade, enhanced transparency and governance of firms, and industry consolidation. Second, analysis of cross-sectional variation reveals higher returns to large railways in the South and Midlands of England, several of which were leading consolidators. This study is the first to report an association between policy liberalization and run-up returns and to identify consolidators as the prime beneficiaries of the liberalization.
Article
Contrary to dominant theories of postindustrial society, this article advances an alternative account of digital capitalism that repositions the factory—so often associated with industrial manufacturing—as a defining yet largely overlooked feature of the internet economy. I pursue this claim by interpreting data centers and microwork platforms as digital embodiments of the factory system through a historical theory of the factory model that reconstructs the consistent mechanisms of control and extraction that have distinguished factories as consolidated infrastructures of production since their inception. I define these “protocols of production” as formal rules deployed by a combination of technological systems, spatial arrangements, and management regimes devised to fragment tasks, discipline workers, and supervise production. By probing the socioeconomic consequences of the factory’s algorithmic redeployment and adaptation to global data production, I contend that these absent factories have amplified alienation and precarity as structural social qualities of the digital labor process.
Article
Full-text available
Religion can promote good governance judging from its rich moral and ethical values, which are enshrined in virtually all religions of the world. For example, in developed democracies, religion played a significant role in entrenching their current democratic ethos of good governance. However, in Nigeria, the importance of religion in entrenching good governance is often undermined during national discourse. Therefore, using a discursive approach in analyzing data gathered through literature review and personal observation, the paper examined the nexus between religious values and good governance in Nigeria's democratic landscape. The entire discussion is hinged on the application of Max Weber's Protestant Ethic which conceived religious values as playing a significant role in economic success of certain Protestant groups. Drawing from this, the paper argued that religious values such as godliness and contentment, trust, selfless service, respect for human dignity, and hard work deep-rooted in the Christian Scripture can facilitate good governance in Nigeria if adequately applied. In this light, the study recommends that such religious values should be taught at various levels of Nigerian education system as a way of promoting good governance in Nigeria.
Article
We use the elements of a macroeconomic production function—physical capital, human capital, labor, and technology—together with standard growth models to frame the role of religion in economic growth. Unifying a growing literature, we argue that religion can enhance or impinge upon economic growth through all four elements because it shapes individual preferences, societal norms, and institutions. Religion affects physical capital accumulation by influencing thrift and financial development. It affects human capital through both religious and secular education. It affects population and labor by influencing work effort, fertility, and the demographic transition. And it affects total factor productivity by constraining or unleashing technological change and through rituals, legal institutions, political economy, and conflict. Synthesizing a disjoint literature in this way opens many interesting directions for future research. (JEL E22, I25, J10, N30, O33, O43, Z12)
Article
Full-text available
In this paper, we explore the extent to which individualistic and collectivist national cultural orientations are essential for green innovation. In this context, we also examine the extent of green innovation in countries at different levels of socioeconomic development. All data were collected for the latest available year (2020). This research was carried out on a sample of 60 selected countries, using parametric tests to identify statistically significant differences between variables and descriptive statistics to examine statistically significant differences in-depth. The results show that, on average, countries with prevailing individualistic cultural orientations and high levels of socioeconomic development perform better in green innovation than countries with prevailing collectivist cultural orientations. On average, countries with a prevailing individualistic cultural orientation scored moderate on green innovation, while countries with a prevailing collectivist orientation scored low. However, the level of socioeconomic development, including designing and implementing green policies, was recognized as essential to green innovation in both national cultures with prevailing individualistic orientations and national cultures with prevailing collectivist orientations.
Article
Full-text available
This paper examines the impact of the massive population increase in Africa in the post World War II era and the environmental challenges the continent confronts in trying to feed such a high number of people. The paper is divided into three sections. The first section examines the demographics of Africa, which show that the continent has increased its total population by 750 million people from 1950 to 2008. The second section of this paper then presents arguments by scholars pertaining to the environmental challenges, especially for agriculture, facing Africa as it finds ways to feed this massive number of people. Finally, the third section presents a framework with suggestions or recommendations as to how policy makers in Africa should proceed in managing this problem.
Book
Unequal distribution of income is one of the most important socio-economic issues. The processes of globalisation and integration are accelerating economic growth; however, at the same time, imbalances between regions are growing. Reducing inequalities within regions and national economies, as well as around the world, is important for individual and societal well-being and cohesion, and for effective state policies. This book investigates the problem of left-behind regions in the European Union (EU). It first introduces the reader to the theories of regional imbalances and problems with measuring them. It then explores imbalances in the EU using a variety of indicators and describes the EU’s regional policy for reducing regional disparities. It uses an empirical shift-share analysis to assess the productivity of EU regions which are lagging behind. The book also provides an empirical analysis of the effectiveness of EU funds in increasing labour productivity performed with DEA methodology. This book can be used as a teaching resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students and can serve as reference material for academics and researchers, as well as policymakers at the European, national and local levels.
Chapter
This chapter traces the life and work of Harvard economic historian David Landes, while also situating his career in the wider context of the ever-changing discipline of economic history. Along with providing a brief biographical sketch and summary of some of his most important historical writings on the Industrial Revolution, technological change, economic growth and more, we show how, by the early 1980s, Landes struggled to find an academic home at Harvard for two main reasons: On the one hand, the rise of a highly quantitative and neoclassical “cliometrics” pushed him away from the Economics Department. On the other, Landes’ increasingly conservative approach to history and his unabashed Eurocentrism led to a strained relationship within the history discipline. In this regard, Landes’ career can help explain the demise of traditional economic history which has all but disappeared from both the economics and history departments at Harvard and across the United States.
Chapter
Harvard is one of the foundational institutions in the fields of political economy, economic history, financial history and business history, responsible for establishing economic history as the core discipline of the social sciences during its formative decades. Internationally renowned scholars associated with the College, such as Ashley, Schumpeter, Gerschenkron, Kuznets, Chandler, Landes, Ferguson and Jones, formulated such concepts as cyclicality, historical backwardness, entrepreneurial spirit and organisations/networks, often focusing on the role of government in the economy and the interplay of culture, economics and innovation. They pioneered new methodologies-cum-approaches, notably quantitative methods, and firm- and case-based research, while advocating the importance of multi-disciplinarity. Borrowing from British and European intellectual traditions, much initial teaching and research in economics and history was consciously directed towards understanding the needs of the “young” Republic. Yet, by mid-twentieth century, scholars at Harvard were setting the agenda for institutions around the world.
Chapter
Corruption, poverty, unemployment, and weak economic institutions are seen in many migration discussions as causes of postcolonial African migration to the West. Many researchers argue that Africa is exposed to the neocolonial capitalist economic system. Accordingly, Africa as a junior partner is not able to shape the global economic structure for itself. While it is fair to argue that colonialism and global economic structures have caused massive and long-lasting damage to Africa, however, Africa’s home-made poor economic governance structures cannot be ignored. Neocolonialism is a poor argument to explain current African socio-economic problems. Africa’s problems are primarily caused by the free choice of African poor economic decision-makers. This chapter explores the counterproductivity of the African victim-mentality, self-pitying, blame-someone-else, and scapegoating ultimately leading to emigration.
Article
Science and technology human resources are fundamental components for enhancing the efficiency of the national innovation system. This study aims to examine the co-evolutionary relationship between scientific collaboration and scientific mobility, explore the dynamic development process of collaboration and talent flow within the global science system, and offer insights for developing suitable policies related to scientific mobility and international collaboration. The study employs Scopus data from 1788 to 2020 to investigate the systematic co-evolution of scientific talent flow and scientific collaboration from a macro and long-term perspective. The findings indicate that: (1) The global scientific flow and collaboration networks are increasingly interconnected, with a rising prevalence of international mobility and intensified worldwide collaboration. (2) Both networks exhibit cluster structures that have evolved over time, with a shift towards more random network configurations, reflecting more extensive and frequent global scientific interactions. (3) The “Matthew Effect” is observed, highlighting an imbalance with a few dominant players and many minor participants, while advanced countries demonstrate greater alignment between collaboration and mobility networks than lagging ones. Policy implications include encouraging international research mobility, supporting cooperation within scientific clusters, and prioritizing connections with global research hubs while engaging with peripheral countries.
Chapter
This chapter opens the way to my second main concern: could Weber’s theory still be valid today? Obviously, this question was not behind Weber’s intention. His primary aim was to show which role the Protestant ethic played for the genesis of the spirit of capitalism during sixteenth to seventeenth centuries, as he looked at the first stages of modern capitalism.
Chapter
This chapter rejects single stories about the cause of poverty, as well as their corollaries that there is a single-story solution to poverty. Instead, understanding poverty in a specific location requires understanding the social, political, economic, and environmental history of that place. Such understanding reveals the ways multiple causal factors—such as the legacies of colonialism, corrupt and extractive governments, international institutions, and economic exploitation—are intertwined, while also revealing possibilities for positive change. This chapter draws ideas from Eduardo Galeano, Ha-Joon Chang, Wangari Maathai, Aimé Césaire, Paul Collier, and Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.