Chris Blattman

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Recommended listening: Spence on development as politics

Russ Roberts interviews Nobel Laureate Michale Spence about being the helm of  the Commission on Growth and Development in a new podcast. It has many interesting bits. One example: Spence said he went in to the Commission thinking development was about solving complex and dynamic economic issues; he came out thinking it mainly about government and governance.

Another interesting argument: letting markets loose is necessary for development, but a country can speed to markets too far or too fast.

Read the Commission’s report here. It opens compellingly:

Since 1950, 13 economies have grown at an average rate of 7 percent ayear or more for 25 years or longer. At that pace of expansion, an economyalmost doubles in size every decade. This report is about sustained,high growth of this kind: its causes, consequences, and internal dynamics.
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