This seminar critiques grand institutional theories of economic growth by using a political economy model of Papua New Guinea.
The idea that institutions are the fundamental determinant of economic growth and development has been mainstream since the 1990s. A variety of institutional theories have been developed, but there has been little independent testing of them against country case studies.
This paper provides such a test by developing a political economy model to explain growth and development outcomes in Papua New Guinea and comparing it to the major institutional (grand) theories of growth. These theories are grouped into two types, one stressing the importance of the nature of politics (a la Acemoglu and Robinson) for development and one the importance of violence (a la North, Wallis and Weingast). I argue that in PNG both the nature of its politics and problems relating to violence are important for understanding growth, and that one cannot be reduced to the other. In particular, I argue that PNG is in a “hyperpolitical, insecurity trap”. I use the PNG case to argue that grand growth theories are not useful, making the case instead that we should focus on country-specific models.
The monthly ANU-UPNG seminar series is part of the partnership between the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy and the UPNG, supported by the PNG-Aus Partnership.
This a hybrid seminar held at ANU, UPNG's School of Business and Public Policy MBA Suite and online via Zoom.
Seminar time: 12.30 - 1.30pm AEST and PGT.
Event Speakers
Stephen Howes
Professor Stephen Howes is Director of the Development Policy Centre. He has a PhD in economics from the London School of Economics.
He served in various positions for a decade at the World Bank before becoming AusAID’s first Chief Economist in 2005.
He is now Professor of Economics at the Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU.