Conclusion: what are the important lessons from history?

TY - CHAP

T1 - Conclusion

T2 - what are the important lessons from history?

AU - Reinert, Erik S.

AU - Kvangraven, Ingrid Harvold

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © Erik S. Reinert and Ingrid Harvold Kvangraven 2023.

PY - 2023/1/1

Y1 - 2023/1/1

N2 - The successful cases where countries have been able to reverse uneven development have recently been few and far between. However, there are some that are well worth drawing attention to, along with some of the key challenges associated with uneven development covered in this handbook. This chapter discusses key challenges as well as lessons from history that can be fruitful to consider when thinking about the challenges and opportunities associated with uneven development today. It is argued that over time, creating balances of countervailing powers has proved important from Medieval Venice and Florence to the US in the 1950s. Today the heavy reliance on neoclassical economics, with its power-base in the Washington Institutions, has vital impacts on policy, and remains a key barrier to conceptualising, and thus challenging, uneven development. To demonstrate this, we unpack the history of international financial institutions and show how their neoclassical theoretical foundations impact the policies they promote, which has led to a narrowing of tools and space available for countries in the Global South. Thereafter, the chapter discusses how neocolonialism and imperialism were challenged by movements across the Global South, although they ultimately fell short of fundamentally shifting the structures of the global economy. In the changing landscape of global governance, the need for theories resonating with reality over time, and the relevance of industrial structures for welfare, this final chapter outlines some basic principles that have been useful for generating wealth and justice, based on a range of good and bad examples through history, including from Scandinavia, China, India, the Soviet Union, and the Italian city states.

AB - The successful cases where countries have been able to reverse uneven development have recently been few and far between. However, there are some that are well worth drawing attention to, along with some of the key challenges associated with uneven development covered in this handbook. This chapter discusses key challenges as well as lessons from history that can be fruitful to consider when thinking about the challenges and opportunities associated with uneven development today. It is argued that over time, creating balances of countervailing powers has proved important from Medieval Venice and Florence to the US in the 1950s. Today the heavy reliance on neoclassical economics, with its power-base in the Washington Institutions, has vital impacts on policy, and remains a key barrier to conceptualising, and thus challenging, uneven development. To demonstrate this, we unpack the history of international financial institutions and show how their neoclassical theoretical foundations impact the policies they promote, which has led to a narrowing of tools and space available for countries in the Global South. Thereafter, the chapter discusses how neocolonialism and imperialism were challenged by movements across the Global South, although they ultimately fell short of fundamentally shifting the structures of the global economy. In the changing landscape of global governance, the need for theories resonating with reality over time, and the relevance of industrial structures for welfare, this final chapter outlines some basic principles that have been useful for generating wealth and justice, based on a range of good and bad examples through history, including from Scandinavia, China, India, the Soviet Union, and the Italian city states.

KW - Balance of countervailing powers

KW - Classical economics

KW - Economic history

KW - Global governance

KW - History of economic thought

KW - Institutional economics

KW - Neoclassical economics

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85168487400&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.4337/9781788976541.00029

DO - 10.4337/9781788976541.00029

M3 - Foreword/postscript

AN - SCOPUS:85168487400

SN - 9781788976534

SP - 389

EP - 405

BT - A Modern Guide to Uneven Economic Development

PB - Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd

ER -