Structural Analysis And The Process Of Economic Development

Economic development is full of discontinuities. Mainstream economists perceive these as external disturbances to a natural state of equilibrium, but this book argues that much of the discontinuities are part of economic development, suggesting that patterns can be understood with structural analysis. Structural Analysis and the Process of Economic Development presents a detailed analysis of the trajectory of Swedish economic change since the nineteenth century. The emergence of structural analysis in economic research is reviewed, as well as a chapter devoted to development blocks, a key concept that was outlined in the 1940s and that has much in common with the more recent notions ‘techno-economic paradigms’ and ‘general-purpose technologies’. Structural analysis and the major contributions by Schön are introduced in this book. Also highlighted is Sweden’s integration into the international economy via the nineteenth century capital markets, along with structural analysis as a tool for understanding climate change. The recent technique of wavelet analysis and its potential for structural analysis is demonstrated in a non-technical chapter. This book is suitable for those who are interested in and study political economy, economic history and European history.

The authors in this book regard the process of economic expansion as a non-homogeneous and multifaceted phenomenon which has deeply affected human welfare, and cultural, social and political change. The book is a bridge between the theorists (Rosenstein-Rodan, Lewis, Myrdal, and Hirschmann) who in the post-war period analyzed regional inequalities, structural change and dualism, and the modern literature on economic growth. The latter has emphasized the existence of multiple equilibria, bifurcations and various types of dynamic complexity, and clarified the conditions for the emergence of phenomena such as cumulative causation, path dependence and hysteresis. These are the typical ingredients of structural change, economic development or underdevelopment.

Economic development is a process of continuous technological innovation and structural transformation. Development thinking is inherently tied to the quest for sustainable growth strategies. This book provides a neoclassical approach for studying the determinants of economic structure and its transformation and draws new insights for development policy. The market is the basic mechanism for effective resource allocation at each level of development. However, economic development as a dynamic process entails structural changes, including industrial upgrading and diversification and corresponding improvements in hard and soft infrastructure. Such upgrading and improvements require coordination and go hand in hand with large externalities to firms' transaction costs and returns to capital investment. Thus, in addition to an effective market mechanism, the government should play an active role in facilitating structural changes. The book provides empirical evidence in support of this framework as well as concrete advice to development practitioners.

Here is a comprehensive edited volume that outlines the historical roots and state-of-the-art debates on the role of structural change in the process of economic development, including both orthodox and heterodox perspectives and contributions from prominent scholars in this field.

This textbook includes discussions of such topics as the environment, the debt case, export-led industrialization, import substitution industrialization, growth theory and technological capability.

The fifth edition of The Process of Economic Development offers a thorough and up-to-date treatment of development economics. It has been extensively revised throughout, reflecting the most recent developments in research and incorporating the latest empirical data, as well as key theoretical advances and many new topics. The world has seen vast economic growth in China, economic transformation in India, new challenges in Latin America, rapid economic progress in Southeast Asia, and the deepening impact of environmental issues such as climate change. This new edition addresses all these critical issues as well as the pivotal role of the state, where China’s capacity is contrasted with that of African states. Transnational corporations’ reliance on low-wage manufacturing and labor arbitrage is featured in the book. Agricultural policy—extensively explored—remains crucial, as does the promotion of industrialization. This fifth edition offers a ‘state-of-the-art’ analysis of these essential themes and many others. Numerous case studies and issue focuses have been integrated with sundry central topics. Neoclassical theories and applications, including a timely exploration of behavioral economics, are both rigorously and accessibly explicated. Cypher’s comprehensive account remains the development economics text par excellence, as it takes a much more practical, hands-on view of the issues facing the developing countries than other, overly mathematical texts. This book is unique in its scope and in the detailed attention it gives to a vast range of ideas, including pioneering developmentalist and heterodox formulations. Distinct institutional structures are examined within their historical contexts. This landmark text will continue to be an invaluable resource for students, teachers, and researchers in the fields of development economics and development studies.

Regional economic development has attracted the interest of economists, geographers, planners and regional scientists for a long time. And, of course, it is a field that has developed a large practitioner cohort in government and business agencies from the national down to the state and local levels. In planning for cities and regions, both large and small, economic development issues now tend to be integrated into strategic planning processes. For at least the last 50 years, scholars from various disciplines have theorised about the nature of regional economic development, developing a range of models seeking to explain the process of regional economic development, and why it is that regions vary so much in their economic structure and performance and how these aspects of a region can change dramatically over time. Regional scientists in particular have developed a comprehensive tool-kit of methodologies to measure and monitor regional economic characteristics such as industry sectors, employment, income, value of production, investment, and the like, using both quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis, and focusing on both static and dynamic analysis. The 'father of regional science', Walter lsard, was the first to put together a comprehensive volume on techniques of regional analysis (Isard 1960), and since then a huge literature has emerged, including the many titles in the series published by Springer in which this book is published.