Does Governance Matter?

The institutional theory of development appears to have swept all before it. Those traditionalists who argue for the centrality of investment for growth are told that institutions determine its quality and extent. Unreconstructed supporters of the primacy of policies are schooled that governance lies behind good policy selection and strong implementation. All that is left to discuss is what causes strong institutions, to which the answer appears to be a whole load of history. Indeed, the whole question of the wealth and poverty of nations sometimes appears reduced to an argument between those who favor soil type and those more concerned with disease burden at the time of European imperial expansion a century and a half ago or more. Adapted from the source document.