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This collection of essays from eminent scholars discusses different phases and measures of economic development, evaluating the success of national economic transitions and providing valuable policy lessons for developing economies.

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PART I: PRESIDENTIAL LECTURE The Five Phases of Economic Development and Institutional Evolution in China, Japan and Korea; M.Aoki PART II: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS Social Organizations, Risk Sharing Institutions and Economic Development; A.Greif , M.Iyugun & D.Sasson Before and Beyond Divergence: A New Look at the Economic History of China and Europe; J.Rosenthal & R.Wong Why Development Patterns Differ; The Czech and Serbian Cases Compared; J.Svejnar & M.Uvalic PART III: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: FINANCE, TRADE AND MIGRATION Sharing the Future: Financial Innovation and Innovators in Solving the Political Economic Challenges of Development; S.Jha The Evolution of Domestic Trade Flows When Foreign Trade is Liberalized: Evidence from the Chinese Maritime Customs Services; W.Keller , B.Li & C.Shuie Physical, Social and Informational Barriers to Domestic Migration; P.Choudhury & T.Khanna PART IV: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS Political Consequence of the Middle East´s Islamic Economic Legacy; T.Kuran Separation of Powers and the Medieval Roots of Institutional Divergence between Europe and the Islamic Middle East; E.Chaney Political Institution and Long Run Economic Trajectory: Some Lessons from Two Millenia of Chinese Civilization; D.Ma PART V: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND CULTURE Understanding the Individualism-Collectivism Cleavage and its Effects: Lessons from Cultural Psychology; Y.Gorodnichenko & G.Roland Developmental "Paths" and "Civilizations" in Africa and Asia: Reflections on Strategies for Integrating Cultural and Material Explanations of Differential Long-Term Economic Performance; G.Austin Making Sense of Institutional Change in China: The Cultural Dimension of Economic Development and Modernization; C.H.Pillath PART VI: CHALLENGES OF FOOD SECURITY UNDER GLOBALIZATION Supply Responses to Food Price Changes in Asian Countries; K.Imai , R.Gaiha , G.Thapa & A.All Structural Transformation, Small Farmers and Food Security in Asia; C.Timmer Food Security, Commodity Price Volatility and the Poor; J.von Braun & G.Tadesse

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MASAHIKO AOKI, Stanford University, USA

TIMUR KURAN, Duke University, USA

GÉRARD ROLAND, University of California at Berkeley, USA

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