This volume addresses the significance of institutional economics for the developing world. It blends together theoretical and empirical contributions from a range of disciplines - notably development studies, economics and economic history. The work begins with an overview of the origins and scope of the new institutional economics. Subsequent chapters extend this, providing critical commentaries and a theory which has challenged the orthodoxies about development, especially concerning the role of markets. The remaining chapters deal with theoretical issues and with institutions, markets and...

From an inauspicious start as a muddy backwater of Imperial Spain to a global trading economy, Colin M. Lewis traces the rise and fall of Argentina in this authoritative history. At the heart of this survey is the theme of paradox: why has a country with such enormous economic potential, and such cultral sophistication, suffered so badly in recent years?Focusing particularly on the 19th and 20th centuries, the author outlines the key events, from Independence to the dirty war, and from the Falklands conflict to the economic and political crises of 2001. He also traces the tumultuous careers...