4 Digging Deeper: The Microeconomics of Development
There is no getting away from the big questions, even if they cannot be fully answered
with the knowledge and tools we have at hand. The issues we’ve discussed (and our
intuitive first-takes on them) determine our world view, the cognitive canvas on which we
arrange our overall thoughts. But only the most hard-bitten macroeconomist would feel
no trepidation about taking these models literally, and applying them without hesitation
across countries, regions and cultures.
The microeconomics of development enables us to dig below the macro questions, unearthing
insight and structure with far more confidence than we can hope to have at the
world or cross-country level. From the viewpoint of economic theory, the assumptions
made can be more carefully motivated and are open to careful testing. From the viewpoint
of empirical analysis, it is far easier to find instruments or natural experiments, or
to conduct one’s own experiments for that matter. There is, no doubt, the philosophical
problems of scaling the results up, of using a well-controlled finding to predict outcomes
elsewhere. In the end, the choice between the fuzzy, imprecise big picture and the small
yet carefully delineated canvas is perhaps a matter of taste.
I need hardly add that my selectivity continues unabated: there is an entire host of
issues, and I can but touch on a fraction of them. I focus deliberately on four important
topics that are both relevant to my overall theme of history-dependence, and have been
the subject of much recent attention.
4 Digging Deeper: The Microeconomics of DevelopmentThere is no getting away from the big questions, even if they cannot be fully answeredwith the knowledge and tools we have at hand. The issues we’ve discussed (and ourintuitive first-takes on them) determine our world view, the cognitive canvas on which wearrange our overall thoughts. But only the most hard-bitten macroeconomist would feelno trepidation about taking these models literally, and applying them without hesitationacross countries, regions and cultures.The microeconomics of development enables us to dig below the macro questions, unearthinginsight and structure with far more confidence than we can hope to have at theworld or cross-country level. From the viewpoint of economic theory, the assumptionsmade can be more carefully motivated and are open to careful testing. From the viewpointof empirical analysis, it is far easier to find instruments or natural experiments, orto conduct one’s own experiments for that matter. There is, no doubt, the philosophicalproblems of scaling the results up, of using a well-controlled finding to predict outcomeselsewhere. In the end, the choice between the fuzzy, imprecise big picture and the smallyet carefully delineated canvas is perhaps a matter of taste.I need hardly add that my selectivity continues unabated: there is an entire host ofissues, and I can but touch on a fraction of them. I focus deliberately on four importantหัวข้อที่เกี่ยวข้องกับธีมโดยรวมของฉันพึ่งพาประวัติของทั้งสอง และได้เรื่องของความสนใจมากล่าสุด
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