Suchergebnisse

This article complements Ha-Joon Chang's critique, entitled 'Institutions and Economic Development: Theory, Policy and History', of the 'dominant discourse' on institutions and economic development which takes the view that getting the institutions right (by strengthening private property rights and market freedoms) is a prerequisite for development. It does so by commenting on the concepts of economic development and institutions, discussing the theory of how institutional change affects development, and examining the possibility and desirability of such institutional change as a prerequisite of development.

Mainstream macroeconomic theory, especially as synthesized in the New Neoclassical Synthesis, is argued to have many problematic aspects, problems which have been especially underscored by the recent economic crisis, and which relate to its method, its views of the economy, and its goals and its policy implications. These failings call for greater pluralism in macroeconomic theory and greater acceptance of alternative approaches. One of these—which is based on accounting identities and behavioral and institutional relations, which stresses the importance of uncertainty and power, emphasizes the goals of reducing unemployment and distributional fairness, and views policymaking as an art—is particularly worthy of attention.JEL classification: B22, B41, E00