Post on 02-Jun-2018
8/11/2019 Social Norms and Economic Development
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/social-norms-and-economic-development 1/4
merican Economic ssociation
Institutions, Social Norms, and Economic Development: Fundamentals of DevelopmentEconomics, Volume 1 by Jean-Philippe PlatteauReview by: Jeffrey B. NugentJournal of Economic Literature, Vol. 39, No. 4 (Dec., 2001), pp. 1273-1275Published by: American Economic AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2698557 .
Accessed: 04/09/2014 19:00
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
.
American Economic Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal
of Economic Literature.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 200.0.176.50 on Thu, 4 Sep 2014 19:00:03 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
8/11/2019 Social Norms and Economic Development
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/social-norms-and-economic-development 2/4
Book Reviews
1273
changes in the readings selected as well as in
the extensive comments which provide an
overview of each chapter and build concep-
tual bridges between the selections.
There
are, in addition, some explanatory notes that
are extremely helpful, including a lucid defi-
nition of various types of rents (Note lxB.1),
and a guide to reading a table of regression
results (in the appendix).
It should
also
be noted that the overall
technical level
of
the volume
has
been
raised
substantially, rendering
at least some
of
the
selections more appropriate
for the
interme-
diate rather than the beginning student of
development economics. Some contributions,
e.g., Kiminori Matsuyama on Agricultural
Productivity, Comparative Advantage and
Economic Growth and Sherman Robinson on
the Kuznets inverse U-shaped hypothesis,
are unnecessarily esoteric and mathematical
in
treatment. On the other hand, the contin-
ued heavy
reliance on
excerpts
from Arthur
Lewis and Lloyd Reynolds helps right the
balance.
But
the
volume also has
some
outright
weaknesses.
For
example, chapter 1,
the in-
troductory chapter, is extremely choppy
and
not well organized. It begs for more back-
ground on the history
of
thought, from the
Classical School to
modern
times;
and it
confronts the unsuspecting reader
with
page
upon page on the complexities
of the Human
Development Index-while
the
basic con-
cept
of
human
development
and
its
relation
to
growth, distribution, and poverty
is
not
addressed anywhere.
Chapter
4
addresses
the
hoary
chestnut of
markets
versus government
intervention. Un-
fortunately, the authors choose to
feature
Balassa versus Rodrik, representing rather ex-
treme
positions.
To reduce
reader
confusion,
a
more
moderate
or
Solomonic
selection
might
have been
added or substituted to
reader
advantage.
I
also was
not
happy with
the
selections
surrounding
he
intersectoral
Lewis
vs. Harris-
Todaro discussion
in
chapter
6.
Such critical
issues as the intersectoral commodity market
and the intersectoral
terms of
trade are
neglected.
And
the
Tidrick selection on
wage
spillover, unemployment and wage gaps in
the -same
chapter
is off
the main track,
overly
technical and likely to be confusing to
all
but
the most sophisticated.
Small-scale supervised credit to the rural
poor has deservedly received policy-makers'
attention of late. Nevertheless, recent second
thoughts on the Grameen Bank should have
been reflected in the notes accompanying the
rather uncritical
selection.
Another area which the next edition could
well improve upon is the new institutional
economics which is given short shrift, as is
the recently emerging
issue
of
technology
transfer and intellectual property rights.
Finally, chapter
8 on
Sustainable Develop-
ment is exceedingly heavy
on
deforesta-
tion, while air, water pollution, and global
warming, among the most important global
public goods,
are
either
neglected
or seen
as
concerns only for the industrial countries.
It should
not be
surprising that
a
new
co-
author appearing on the scene is accompa-
nied by some problems of transition. But
these
problems
in no
way
detract
from the
basic assessment that Leading
Issues in Eco-
nomic Development continues to be
one
of
the
leading texts
in
the
field.
Moreover,
I am
convinced that the next
edition
will address
some of the inevitable imperfections and
present an
even
better blend of
the
old
and the new.
GUSTAV
RANIS
Yale
University
Institutions,Social
Norms,
and EconomicDevel-
opment:
Fundanentalsof Development
Eco-
nomics,Volufme . By
Jean-PhilippePlatteau.
Reading,
UK: Harwood
Academic,
2000.
Pp. xxiv,384. $60.00.
ISBN 90-5823-058-9.
JEL 2001-0792
This is a development economist's develop-
ment economics book.
Professor Platteau
knows
the developing
countries not just by
their
statistical
offices,
finance
ministries,
and lecture halls
but through extensive
field
experience and acquaintance
with
both
theoretical and
applied literatures on
development
in a
number
of different
disciplines.
The
book goes deeply
into
its
subject
mat-
ter though,
as
its title
suggests,
it
focuses
rather sharply on institutions and social
norms. In fact, the
institutions it
deals with
This content downloaded from 200.0.176.50 on Thu, 4 Sep 2014 19:00:03 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
8/11/2019 Social Norms and Economic Development
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/social-norms-and-economic-development 3/4
1274 Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. XXXIX(December
2001)
are largely
confined to propertyrights
in
land
and the social norms treated
are those per-
taining to
egalitarian attitudes, cooperation,
and trust. Platteau
is
concerned
with the
evolution
and stability characteristics of
these norms. As
he
admits, the
book is
heavily,
though
not exclusively, focused on
Sub-Saharan
Africa (SSA).
There are eight chapters.
The first two are
introductoryliterature surveys,
chapter
1
pro-
viding an overview
of competing approaches
to
the subject
matter,
and
chapter
2
an ana-
lytic description of the environmental
condi-
tions affecting
the
economies
of
SSA.
Chap-
ters
3
and
4
deal
with property
rights
in
land.
The remaining chapters deal with norms,
chapter 5
with
egalitarian
norms and their
determinants
and
consequences, chapters
6
and
7
with
the
emergence
of
markets
and
norms
supporting them,
first
at the village
level and then
at the societal level. Chapter
8
is concerned with the evolution
of norms and
resulting path
dependence. It also provides
a brief conclusion.
The
references
are ex-
tremely
rich and numerous, filling
32
pages
of small
type.
Although
each chapter provides a compre-
hensive treatment of the literature relevant to
its subject matter, the book
also,
stakes out
some
interesting
and
perhaps
controversial
positions.
Several themes
run
through the
various
chapters.
The
overarching theme
is that develop-
ment is
not easy;
none of the various funda-
mentalist positions
that has been staked out
in
the standard
development literature
is
valid.
The need
for institutional
reforms is
not
enough
to
bring
them
about.
The
prob-
lems
of
developing countries
in general and
SSA in
particular,
moreover,
are
not
simply
attributableto the presence
of bad, dishonest
policy
makers who
get
the
prices
and
policies
wrong,
-or
who
fail
to
establish
private prop-
erty rights.
This is
not
to deny
an
important
role, for
well-defined property
rights
and
well-functioning
markets in
the
development
process, but rather
to
argue
that these institu-
tions
neither
emerge
automatically
nor
can
they simply
be-
transferred
from
rich
to
poor
countries
by
external
agents.
Instead, people
and conditions have to be prepared so that
the
appropriate
and efficient
technologies
and institutions can
be accepted. This is
not
easy anywhere,especially
in SSA.
According to Platteau,
the difficulties
in
SSA arise from its
low population density.
This
impedes inter-group communication
and
the development of trust
extending beyond
the confines
of the family and
small group
toward institutions favorable to
the develop-
ment of markets and
the production of public
goods.
Another
interesting hypothesis
is that
it is the absence,
not the presence, of sup-
posedly
norm-eroding
markets that impedes
the development
of cooperation-supporting
social norms.
To
its
credit, the book is non-technical
and
accessible to a wide range of readers but is by
no means analytically
weak.
Indeed,
it
makes
quite
extensive use
of
elementary game the-
ory,
briefly
and
simplydescribes
he
gist
of
some
relatively sophisticated
theoretical arguments,
and
identifies subtle methodological
pitfalls
of
relevant empirical
studies.
After
extolling
a few
of
the
book's
many
virtues,
it
is
only
fair to
identify some
short-
comings,
most of
which are acknowledged by
the author and stem
from his deliberate deci-
sions about
what
to focus
on.
For example,
the SSAfocus rules out more extensive use of
material
from
other
regions that may
or may
not
fit
with
the author's conclusions.
The
focus
on
property rights
in land
largely
rules
out
related
property
rights
such as
in man
and intellectual property.
The
focus on
the
aforementioned social norms unfortunately
seems to
rule
out treatment
of
norms
pertain-
ing
to
the intrahousehold
division
of
labor,
decision-making,
gender
biases in resource
allocation,
and
intergenerational
equity.
Even
if
some of these
omissions
are under-
standable
in
the interest
of
focus,
because
of their interrelationships with
the issues
treated
they
are also
costly.
Second, despite
the fact that
the author
(like
others in this
field)
makes
a
big
deal
of
path dependence,
his demonstrationof
it makes
less
use
of
solid
economic histories
of SSA
itself
(as opposed
to
Italy)
than
might have
been
expected.
Third,
in
blaming
SSA's
poor
record
of
insti-
tutional
and economic
development
on
low
population
density,
Professor
Platteau
gives
insufficient attention to the following: (1)
how
and
why such
problems
were overcome
This content downloaded from 200.0.176.50 on Thu, 4 Sep 2014 19:00:03 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
8/11/2019 Social Norms and Economic Development
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/social-norms-and-economic-development 4/4
Book Reviews
1275
historically in the Americas and parts of
Europe but
not in
SSA; (2)
how
and why
some countries
of
SSA have been more suc-
cessful; and (3) how and why some countries
outside of SSA but with similar conditions
have managed to succeed in making public
goods (like health and family planning facili-
ties) more available to the rural poor. Fourth,
the
author's attempt
to link the low
popula-
tion density and high weather and other risks
of SSA (that result
in
shifting agriculture,
transhumance
and
nomadism),
with
isolation,
the dearth of institutional or technological
changes,
insufficient links to other communi-
ties, strict adherence to social convention and
over-dependence on collective institutions
for satisfying basic necessities, seems to over-
look
that these same conditions also fre-
quently breed a greater sense
of
indepen-
dence and
mobility,
increased communication
and
exchange
with
other
societies, flexibility,
and
the
ability
to
adjust to, and
be
adopted
by,
other
cultures
when needed
(thereby
al-
lowing differential skills in farming and herd-
ing to play a large role).
Fifth,
the
book gives
insufficient attention to other
more
political
determinants
of
the
lack of state
legitimacy.
Finally, in places at least, the text is not
devoid -of
tortured phrasing, long
sentences,
unnecessary repetition,
and
verbosity.
JEFFREY
B. NUGENT
University f
Southern
California
P Economic Systems
Confronting
Fiji
Futures. Edited
by
A Haroon
Akram-Lodhi.Canberra:Asia Pacific Press at
the AustralianNational
University,2000. Pp.
xv, 321. $A 30.00. ISBN 0-7315-3642-8.
JEL
2001-0359
The title of this collection
of
essays em-
phasizes the future. However,
the
great bulk
of the
book
is about the recent past, al-
though most chapters
end with a few general
comments about
the future.
The book begins with two pages entitled
Stop Press. Confronting the Present: The
Coup
of
2000.
As the book went to press
Fiji's third coup occurred
on May 19, 2000.
The fact of the coup calls into question some
of the
assumptionsand
assertions n the book.
The book is in two parts. Part
1
is entitled
Politics, Economics and Social Inequality,
although the chapters
probably contain more
about ethnicity than about any
other
topic.
After an introductory
chapter by Martin
Doornbos and the editor, Yash Ghai outlines
the 1997 constitution. Then Satendra Prasad
describes
the outcomes
and prospects of
the first election under it, that in 1999. Eco-
nomic chapters include an
overview,
by
A.
Sepehri and the editor, and one on the effect
of ethnic-based institutional rigiUities
on
eco-
nomic performance by Biman Prasad and
Sunil Kumar. Social policies
are discussed by
John Cameron, labor market deregulation by
Ganesh Chand, and the situation of urban
women (most
of
them
in
low-paid work with
poor conditions), since
the 1987 coups, by
Jacqueline
Leckie.
Part
2
is entitled The
'Fijian' Question,
an
unexpected
title for a section
on
the
nation's majority population. William
Suther-
land begins it with a chapter on The Prob-
lems
of
Reform and the 'Fijian' Question.
This
is
followed by Steven
Ratuva on affir-
mative action through business promotion
for
indigenous Fijians, which
shows that the main
beneficiaries were the already advantaged-a
not uncommon feature of affirmative action
anywhere.
Ecotourism involves
mainly indigenous
Fijians
but,
as Hoger
Korth's chapter shows,
it
accounts
for
a very
small
fragment
of
Fiji
tourism.
The
final chapter, by
Robbie
Robertson,
is
about
ethnic identities
since
the
41987
coups.
The
book
contains much valuable and
in-
teresting
information
and
opinion,
but
much
that is presented as objective
fact would
be
regarded by many among
the
indigenous
Fijian majority as highly
contested
opinion.
Also,
the similarities
of
viewpoints
in the
dif-
ferent
chapters
comes about
not
necessarily
because
everyone
in
Fiji agrees
about what
was
or
should be, but
because
this is
a
book
by people
of a
particular
persuasion.
Theirs is
an
important perspective,
but it
is
a
pity
that
no
other
perspectives
are
presented.
The
book
does
not
disclose that almost
all
the
authors
were active
supporters (in
some
cases writing policies and campaigning for)
the
government
which
was
overthrown
by
the
This content downloaded from 200.0.176.50 on Thu, 4 Sep 2014 19:00:03 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions