Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/63462 
Year of Publication: 
2006
Series/Report no.: 
WIDER Research Paper No. 2006/101
Publisher: 
The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), Helsinki
Abstract: 
This research paper discusses the role of institutions in the rapid growth and successful international integration of Switzerland during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In analysing the emergence and consolidation of the institutions whose existence was crucial, the paper looks both at the political institutions that managed conflicts and promoted cooperation between private and public actors and the economic institutions that, on the one hand, compensated the groups that fell behind in the developmental process (e.g., agricultural subsidies, high tolerance for domestic cartels, tariffs for some industries, institutions for labour representation) and, on the other hand, enhanced productivity. In addition, the absence of some institutions such as a patent law and an independent central bank was also crucial in the Swiss case, even though these two institutions are regarded as pre-requisites of development by today’s economic orthodoxy. The paper concludes by drawing lessons for today’s developing countries.
Subjects: 
economic growth
institutions
Switzerland
small countries
JEL: 
N13
N23
N43
ISBN: 
9291908851
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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