The Evolution of Economic Diversity

The Evolution of Economic Diversity
Author: Antonio Nicita
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 455
Release: 2013-12-16
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 113635669X

The traditional role of evolutionary theory in the social sciences has been to explain the existence of an object in terms of the survival of the fittest. In economics this approach has acted as a justification for hypotheses such as profit maximisation, or the existence of institutions in terms of their overall efficiency. This volume challenges that view and argues that one of the first tasks of economic theory should be to explain the enormous diversity of institutional arrangements that has characterised human societies.

Economic Complexity and Human Development

Economic Complexity and Human Development
Author: Dominik Hartmann
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2018-03-12
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1135118949

This book combines the human development approach and innovation economics in order to explore the effects that structural economic change has on human development. While economic diversification can provide valuable new social choices and capabilities, it also tends to lead to more complex decision processes and changes to the set of capabilities required by people to self-determine their future. Within this process of structural transformation, social networks are crucial for accessing information and social support, but networks can also be a root cause of exclusion and inequality reproduction. This implies the need to encourage innovation and economic diversification beyond production expansion, focusing on the promotion of human agency and social inclusion. This book provides such a modern perspective on development economics, emphasizing the role of social networks, economic diversity and entrepreneurship for social welfare. The author discusses how innovation, social networks, economic dynamics and human development are interlinked, and provides several practical examples of social and micro-entrepreneurship in contexts as diverse as Peruvian rural villages and Brazil’s urban areas. The interdisciplinary perspective put forward in this book illustrates theoretical and methodological methods of exploring the complexity of development in a practical and relevant way. It also provides useful information about structural factors which need to be considered by practitioners when designing pro-poor growth policies. Furthermore, the coverage of the core concepts of innovation, networks and development economics, enriched with multiple examples, makes it a valuable resource for scholars and advanced students of modern development economics.

Latin America's Economy

Latin America's Economy
Author: Eliana A. Cardoso
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 362
Release: 1995
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780262531252

Examines broad patterns of development and some economic issues facing Latin American countries. Includes a chapter outlining recurrent patterns of economic development and economic crises throughout the past 500 years.

Proximity, Distance and Diversity

Proximity, Distance and Diversity
Author: Päivi Oinas
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 345
Release: 2017-09-29
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1351908030

Bringing together a wide range of empirical studies from around the world (Sweden, Norway, Austria, Germany, France, UK, Israel, Russia, China, Taiwan, Argentina, Canada), framed in related contemporary theoretical frameworks, this book examines the question of the significance of proximate vs. more distant relationships for economic agents' performance and local economic development. While this question has been the subject of intense debates in recent years, it is obvious that proximity and distance are not explanatory factors as such. The book argues for the need to understand the aims of economic relationships, the nature of the regional environment in which they originate, and the scale at which they operate. The book suggests that the notions of diversity, innovativeness, maturity and multiple scales should be incorporated into the debates on the significance of proximity for economic performance.

An Economic History of Nineteenth-Century Europe

An Economic History of Nineteenth-Century Europe
Author: Ivan Berend
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 541
Release: 2013
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1107030706

A transnational survey of the economic development of Europe, exploring why some regions advanced and some stayed behind.

ASEAN Economic Cooperation and Integration

ASEAN Economic Cooperation and Integration
Author: Siow Yue Chia
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 219
Release: 2015-04-16
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1107503876

A concise but thorough review of the economics of ASEAN economic integration, with focus on the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).

The Atlas of Economic Complexity

The Atlas of Economic Complexity
Author: Ricardo Hausmann
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2014-01-17
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0262317737

Maps capture data expressing the economic complexity of countries from Albania to Zimbabwe, offering current economic measures and as well as a guide to achieving prosperity Why do some countries grow and others do not? The authors of The Atlas of Economic Complexity offer readers an explanation based on "Economic Complexity," a measure of a society's productive knowledge. Prosperous societies are those that have the knowledge to make a larger variety of more complex products. The Atlas of Economic Complexity attempts to measure the amount of productive knowledge countries hold and how they can move to accumulate more of it by making more complex products. Through the graphical representation of the "Product Space," the authors are able to identify each country's "adjacent possible," or potential new products, making it easier to find paths to economic diversification and growth. In addition, they argue that a country's economic complexity and its position in the product space are better predictors of economic growth than many other well-known development indicators, including measures of competitiveness, governance, finance, and schooling. Using innovative visualizations, the book locates each country in the product space, provides complexity and growth potential rankings for 128 countries, and offers individual country pages with detailed information about a country's current capabilities and its diversification options. The maps and visualizations included in the Atlas can be used to find more viable paths to greater productive knowledge and prosperity.

When Can Oil Economies Be Deemed Sustainable?

When Can Oil Economies Be Deemed Sustainable?
Author: Giacomo Luciani
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 365
Release: 2020-09-30
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9811557284

This open access book questions the stereotype depicting all Gulf (GCC) economies as not sustainable, and starts a critical discussion of what these economies and polities should do to guarantee themselves a relatively stable future. Volatile international oil markets and the acceleration of the energy transition has challenged the notion that oil revenues are sufficient to sustain oil economies in the near to medium term. But what is the meaning of economic sustainability? The book discusses the multiple dimensions of the concept: economic diversification, continuing value of resources, taxation and fiscal development, labor market sustainability, sustainable income distribution, environmental sustainability, political order (democracy or authoritarianism) and sustainability, regional integration. The overarching message in this book is that we should move on from the simplistic branding of the Gulf economies as unsustainable and tackle the details of which adaptations they might need to undertake.

Economic Development in the Americas Since 1500

Economic Development in the Americas Since 1500
Author: Stanley L. Engerman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 449
Release: 2012
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1107009553

Examines differences in the rates of economic growth in Latin America and mainland North America since the seventeenth century.