Kicking Away the Ladder

by Chang, Ha-Joon

• ISBN13: 9781843310273
• ISBN10: 1843310279
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-09-01
• Publisher: Anthem Pr

Summary

How did the rich countries really become rich? In this provocative study, Ha-Joon Chang examines the great pressure on developing countries from the developed world to adopt certain ls"good policiesrs" and ls"good institutions', seen today as necessary for economic development. Adopting a historical approach, Dr Chang finds that the economic evolution of now-developed countries differed dramatically from the procedures that they now recommend to poorer nations. His conclusions are compelling and disturbing: that developed countries are attempting to ls"kick away the ladderrs" with which they have climbed to the top, thereby preventing developing counties from adopting policies and institutions that they themselves have used.

Author Biography

Dr Ha-Joon Chang teaches at the Faculty of Economics and Politics, University of Cambridge. Dr Chang has also edited a number of volumes with Anthem Press, including Joseph Stiglitz and the World Bank: the Rebel Within (2001), Rethinking Development Economics (2003), and Institutional Change and Economic Development (2007). He is the winner, together with Richard Nelson of Columbia University, of the 2005 Leontief Prize.

Table of Contents

Introduction: How did the Rich Countries Really Become Rich?	p. 1
Introduction	p. 1
Some Methodological Issues: Drawing Lessons from History	p. 3
The Chapters	p. 9
Policies for Economic Development: Industrial, Trade and Technology Policies in Historical Perspective	p. 13
Introduction	p. 13
The Catch-up Strategies	p. 19
The Pulling-Ahead Strategy by the Leader and the Responses of the Catching-up Countries--Britain and its Followers	p. 51
Policies for Industrial Development: Some Historical Myths and Lessons	p. 58
Institutions and Economic Development: 'Good Governance' in Historical Perspective	p. 69
Introduction	p. 69
The History of Institutional Development in the Developed Countries	p. 71
Institutional development in developing countries then and now	p. 110
Lessons for the Present	p. 125
Introduction	p. 125
Rethinking Economic Policies for Development	p. 125
Rethinking Institutional Development	p. 129
Possible Objections	p. 135
Concluding Remarks	p. 139
References	p. 143
Notes	p. 161
Index	p. 181
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