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The success or failure of economic actors depends on a variety of factors, which I sort into three groups: attitudes and values, endowments, and rules. Of these three, we only fully control for factors in the first group. Factors in the other two groups are determined by luck, though through individual effort we may enhance them, particularly endowments such as talent or inherited resources. As individuals, most of us have no or very little influence on rules. Rules depend on power, and most people exercise power only indirectly as members of a group or groups. In this address, I focus on the rules, which also means that I focus on power, a neglected topic in economic development, and in modern economics in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the variations in regional economic growth within 26 countries relative to the OECD norm between 1998 and 2003. This analysis sheds light on the role of regions in determining national growth patterns, while also providing a method similar to shift-share that can assess the relative importance of a range of demographic and economic factors in driving such growth. In particular, this taxonomy isolates those growth factors involving region-specific assets that are potentially most influenced by policy. In this sense, the findings help highlight policy niches that can most effectively shape regional growth prospects while also challenging traditional views of regional growth drivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effects of industry instability on the entry decisions of a large sample of Maine establishments. Instability is represented by the persistence of industry employment in Maine, measured over 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month intervals. Poisson regression results suggest that the employment persistence measures have a positive effect on the number of establishments that began operations per industry. This suggests that, other things being equal, entrants are attracted to sectors with high regional employment stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]