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Institutional Determinants (institutional + determinant)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting60%
Humanities and Social Sciences40%

Selected Abstracts

Investor Protection and International Investment Positions: An Empirical Analysis,

INTERNATIONAL FINANCE, Issue 2 2006
Teresa L. Cyrus
Given the recent revival of interest in the institutional determinants of global capital flows, we investigate the relationship between investor protection and international investment positions, using data on 40 countries for the period 1970,98. We find that strong shareholder protection is an important predictor of gross foreign direct investment liabilities, while countries with strong creditor protection tend to have positive stocks of net foreign assets. We conclude that the global pattern of investor protection is a significant determinant of international investment positions. [source]

Governance from Below in Bolivia: A Theory of Local Government with Two Empirical Tests

LATIN AMERICAN POLITICS AND SOCIETY, Issue 4 2009
Jean-Paul Faguet
ABSTRACT This article examines decentralization through the lens of the local dynamics it unleashed in the much-noted case of Bolivia. It argues that the national effects of decentralization are largely the sum of its local-level effects. To understand decentralization, therefore, we must first understand how local government works. The article explores the deep economic and institutional determinants of government quality in two extremes of municipal performance. From this it derives a model of local government responsiveness as the product of political openness and substantive competition. The quality of local politics, in turn, emerges endogenously as the joint product of the lobbying and political engagement of local firms and interests and the organizational density and ability of civil society. The analysis tests the theory's predictions on a database containing all Bolivian municipalities. The theory proves robust. The combined methodology provides a higher-order empirical rigor than either approach can alone. [source]

Institutions and Development: A Conceptual Reanalysis

POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT REVIEW, Issue 2 2006
Alejandro Portes
This essay reviews the concept of "institutions" as used in the recent economic literatures on firms and national development and notes its limitations. An alternative framework is proposed that draws on classic and contemporary sociological theory to position the concept of institutions in relation to other basic elements of culture and social structure. The framework is used to analyze (1) the failure of attempts to transplant institutions of developed countries into the global South and (2) the dynamics of massive privatization in Mexico. The bearing of this framework on current institutional theories of social change is examined, leading to the identification of sources of change at different levels of causal significance and scope. This modified theory of change is applied to the longstanding demographic debates on historical and institutional determinants of fertility transitions. The bearing of the proposed "thick institutionalist" framework on social theory and future development policies is discussed. [source]

LOCAL POLITICAL PARTICIPATION: THE IMPACT OF RULES-IN-USE

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 3 2006
VIVIEN LOWNDES
This article argues that political participation is shaped by locally distinctive ,rules-in-use', notwithstanding the socio-economic status or level of social capital in an area. It recognizes that the resources available to people, as well as the presence of social capital within communities, are potential key determinants of the different levels of local participation in localities. However, the article focuses on a third factor , the institutional rules that frame participation. Levels of participation are found to be related to the openness of the political system, the presence of a ,public value' orientation among local government managers, and the effectiveness of umbrella civic organizations. Whereas resources and social capital are not factors that can be changed with any great ease, the institutional determinants of participation are more malleable. Through case study analysis, the article shows how actors have shaped the environment within which citizens make their decisions about engagement, resulting in demonstrable effects upon levels of participation. [source]

The Long-run Determinants of Australian Income Inequality,

THE ECONOMIC RECORD, Issue 270 2009
NOEL GASTON
Recent interest has been stimulated by the growth of income inequality in most developed countries during the 1980s and 1990s. However, considerable uncertainty still exists as to which factors have been the most important causes of this development. This article uses a measure of income inequality derived from taxation statistics and a recently proposed method for testing long-run Granger non-causality to examine the key determinants of Australia's inequality for the years 1970,2001. In line with popular concern, we find that globalisation and technological progress , defined as the global flow of information , has increased income inequality. In contrast, improved terms of trade have been equity-enhancing. Of the institutional determinants, de-unionisation has had an adverse effect on income inequality, whereas higher minimum wages have reduced it. [source]