A landmark contribution to our understanding of economic development.

Both economic research and the history of foreign aid suggest that the largest barriers to development arise from a society's institutions - its norms and rules. The author draws on 35 years experience to explain how institutions drive economic development. She goes beyond the abstractions usually used to define institutions, providing numerous examples to illustrate the complex, interlocking, and persistent nature of real world rules and norms. This significant book argues that fundamental changes in deeply rooted institutions do not happen because of outsiders' money, advice, pressures, or even physical force; which explains why foreign aid has not, and can not, improve institutions. The impetus for changing institutions must come from within a society, and the author shows how groups of local scholars contribute to institutional change and development when the political opportunity presents itself.

Providing an overview of how market supporting institutions evolved in Europe and why these institutions are weak or absent in most countries of the world, this book will be of interest to a wide audience of aid and development policymakers, academics, and students of economics, political science, management, and law.