Events

The United States as a developing countryMichael Walton The United States has often been characterized as an aspirational end-point for developing countries, in both the popular imagination and academic treatments.  In this account, the US defines the global technological frontier, has efficient shareholder capitalism, possesses highly developed institutions of government, regulation and democracy, provides equality of opportunity, has well-functioning labor markets, is a global magnet for high-level talent and so on.  Yet many features of the contemporary performance of the US political, economic and social systems seem inconsistent with this characterization.  A prism of a developing country may be more appropriate, in particular of a society in which entrenched, self-enforcing, inequalities of wealth, influence and opportunity shape the institutional structures of capitalism and social provisioning, and thus long-term development performance. The session will present initial thinking in this frame, with the aim of initiating discussion on what can be learnt from such an approach—both for the US and for developing countries. Michael Walton is at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and the Centre for Policy Research.