This book explores why different patterns of economic development and growth have been observed across different regions and over time. Drawing on the contributions of outstanding scholars in comparative and historical institutional analysis, this volume presents the roles of political institutions, social organizations and norms, culture, and policy in economic development and societal evolution. The contributors include, besides the editors, G. Austin, A. Greif, D. Ma, T. Khanna, J.L. Rosenthal, C.H. Shiue, J. Svenjinar, P. Temmin, R.B. Wong, and others. The volume provides a valuable resource for general readers, academics, and policymakers with an interest in the future of the evolving world economy.

This volume explores how complex economic transactions can be treated in economics, as well as how societies bring order to complex economic and social transactions through various institutional devices. Bringing together eminent scholars from the fields of game theory, complexity, econometrics and law, it explores theoretically and empirically how markets, social norms, and corporate organization and governance evolve, and how these institutions affect economic behavior. The contributors include, besides the editors, S. Cincotti, M. Gallegatti, M. Kandori, K. Pistor, B. Skyrms, R. Sugden, and others.

China has enjoyed a higher growth rate for a longer period than any other nation to date, but a new consensus is emerging that China is now facing a crucial turning point. This volume is unprecedented in bringing together leading economists from China and the rest of the world to analyse the sources of economic growth, examine its changing conditions for future development, and suggest desirable policy and institutional reforms. Chapters address a wide range of issues, covering not only macro and micro economic mechanisms, but also various aspects of human resource development, environmental protection, and political impact on the economy. The contributors include F. Allen, C.Bai, D. Bloom, F. Cai, R. Freeman, D. Jorgenson, J. Lou, D. H. Perkins, C. Xu, among others.

The OECD and the WTO have accumulated systematic data on the magnitude of support going to farmers as a result of farm policies. The datasets are collected for different purposes, but give a detailed picture of the evolution of these policies. This paper extends recent work on the compatibility of these two classification systems with a focus on Norway, Switzerland, the US and the EU. The results show how the OECD data set, particularly with respect to the link between direct payments and production requirements, complements that of the WTO. Many payments classified as in the WTO Green Box require production, raising the possibility that they may not be trade-neutral. Though the issue of correct notifications to the WTO is the province of lawyers, the implications for modeling and policy analysis is more interesting to economists. And the broader question of improving the consistency of the two datasets is of importance in the quest for transparency.

This work was undertaken while Mittenzwei was a Research Fellow at the Europe Center.

These working papers on the South Korean economy are the product of an annual conference series on Korean affairs hosted by Stanford University's Korean Studies Program (KSP), and made possible by the generous support of the Koret Foundation. KSP's 2009–2010 Koret Fellow, Byongwon Bahk, a former vice finance minister and chief economic adviser to Korean president Lee Myung-bak, played a leading role in organizing the 2010 conference, authored a major paper, and co-edited this volume.

From Byongwon Bahk's preface:

The editors believe that the study of the South Korean economy holds, or should hold, interest not only for Koreans but also for Americans and the international community as a whole. Korea has become a major player in the global economy, ranking thirteenth in GDP and seventh in exports among the world's nearly 200 countries. This should no longer come as much of a surprise to consumers across the globe who use Korean cell phones, drive Korean cars, and, increasingly, enjoy Korean pop music and movies.

The Korean economy is also important as a leading model of development. In only two generations and despite national division and the devastation of civil war, South Korea has transformed itself from a largely agricultural economy to a world leader in manufacturing, which in turn facilitated its emergence as a dynamic democracy. The Korean experience holds many lessons for countries throughout the world as they also struggle to modernize in a highly competitive, globalized economy.

Korea's success in navigating the turmoil caused by the global financial crisis and recession of 2008–2009 is yet another reason for studying its economy. Despite its economy being an astounding 85 percent dependent on international trade, Korea has been among the world's leaders in recovering from the crisis. Korea owes that success in part to the very hard lessons it learned from the Asian financial crisis of 1997–1998.

The five chapters selected for this compendium focus on some of the timeliest and most important issues involving the Korean economy.

Papers included in this volume:

1. "The Changing Global and Korean Economies" by Taeho Bark
2. "An Odyssey of the Korean Financial System and the September 2008 Financial Shock" by Thomas F. Cargill
3. "South Korea’s Official Development Assistance Policy Under Lee Myung-bak: Humanitarian or National Interest?" by Eun Mee Kim and Ji Hyun Kim
4. "Policy Recommendations for the Korean Economy" by Byongwon Bahk
5. "Economic Globalization and Expatriate Labor in Korea" by Gi-Wook Shin and Joon Nak Choi

Currently, more than two-thirds of the population in Africa must leave their home to fetch water for drinking and domestic use. The time burden of water fetching has been suggested to influence the volume of water collected by households as well as time spent on income generating activities and child care. However, little is known about the potential health benefits of reducing water fetching distances. Data from almost 200 000 Demographic and Health Surveys carried out in 26 countries were used to assess the relationship between household walk time to water source and child health outcomes. To estimate the causal effect of decreased water fetching time on health, geographic variation in freshwater availability was employed as an instrumental variable for one-way walk time to water source in a two-stage regression model. Time spent walking to a household’s main water source was found to be a significant determinant of under-five child health. A 15-min decrease in one-way walk time to water source is associated with a 41% average relative reduction in diarrhea prevalence, improved anthropometric indicators of child nutritional status, and a 11% relative reduction in under-five child mortality. These results suggest that reducing the time cost of fetching water should be a priority for water infrastructure investments in Africa.