This policy note by Oriol Sabaté and Eduardo Sanz-Arcega looks at military might and political elites’ commercial mindset as two important preconditions that explain nations’ economic income differences.
Most of the institutional literature describes a world of sovereign nations, bypassing international coercion and, therefore, the historical importance of a third nation’s military power shaping the international economic order. At the same time, institutional developments tend to assume that sovereign political elites behave as wealth maximizers, subject only to staying in power. In doing so, the literature has scarcely explained why some elites do not actually behave like wealth maximizers and promoted pro-growth policies. This paper aims to fill this void in the literature.
Read the full working paper here.
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The International Center for Public Policy has published a working paper series since 1997 to disseminate academic research quickly and to stimulate discussion that can expand knowledge, instill optimal practice and build capacity in the public sector around the world to improve human well-being.
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