Paths to property : approaches to institutional change in international development

Author(s)

Bibliographic Information

Paths to property : approaches to institutional change in international development

Karol Boudreaux & Paul Dragos Aligica ; foreword by Peter J. Boettke

(Hobart paper, 162)

Institute of Economic Affairs, 2007

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Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. 103-111)

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Sub-Saharan Africa has received tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid over the last fifty years, yet economic development has remained elusive. In many countries absolute poverty has increased and life expectancy has declined. Karol Boudreaux and Paul Aligica argue that instead of traditional approaches to development policy, the focus needs to be on adoption of sound political and legal institutions, with clearly defined and enforced private property rights to encourage entrepreneurship and economic growth. The authors examine several case studies of property rights reform in the developing world and suggest that universal policies applied regardless of local culture and tradition tend to fail. Reforms are more likely to succeed when they evolve gradually and are tailored to local norms and values rather than imposed from above by governments, aid agencies and supranational institutions.

Table of Contents

  • Introduction
  • Institutional policy and economic development
  • Property rights and institutional complexity
  • Paths to the creation of property rights
  • Legislation and creation by fiat
  • The evolutionary path
  • Summing up: fiat and evolution
  • An intellectual toolbox for the creation of property rights
  • Conclusions.

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