How and Why Does History Matter for Development Policy?

The consensus among scholars and policy-makers that 'institutions matter' for development has led inexorably to a conclusion that 'history matters', since institutions clearly form and evolve over time. Unfortunately, however, the next logical step has not yet been taken, which i...

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Main Authors:	Woolcock, Michael, Szreter, Simon, Rao, Vijayendra
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	EN
Published:	2012
Subjects:	Economic Development: General O100 Planning Models Planning Policy O210 Institutions and Growth O430
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5027

id	okr-10986-5027
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-50272021-04-23T14:02:20Z How and Why Does History Matter for Development Policy? Woolcock, Michael Szreter, Simon Rao, Vijayendra Economic Development: General O100 Planning Models Planning Policy O210 Institutions and Growth O430 The consensus among scholars and policy-makers that 'institutions matter' for development has led inexorably to a conclusion that 'history matters', since institutions clearly form and evolve over time. Unfortunately, however, the next logical step has not yet been taken, which is to recognise that historians (and not only economic historians) might also have useful and distinctive insights to offer. This article endeavours to open and sustain a constructive dialogue between history--understood as both 'the past' and 'the discipline'--and development policy by (a) clarifying what the craft of historical scholarship entails, especially as it pertains to understanding causal mechanisms, contexts, and complex processes of institutional change; (b) providing examples of historical research that support, qualify, or challenge the most influential research (by economists and economic historians) in contemporary development policy; and (c) offering some general principles and specific implications that historians, on the basis of the distinctive content and method of their research, bring to development policy debates. 2012-03-30T07:30:55Z 2012-03-30T07:30:55Z 2011 Journal Article Journal of Development Studies 00220388 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5027 EN http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Journal Article
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	EN
topic	Economic Development: General O100 Planning Models Planning Policy O210 Institutions and Growth O430
spellingShingle	Economic Development: General O100 Planning Models Planning Policy O210 Institutions and Growth O430 Woolcock, Michael Szreter, Simon Rao, Vijayendra How and Why Does History Matter for Development Policy?
relation	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo
description	The consensus among scholars and policy-makers that 'institutions matter' for development has led inexorably to a conclusion that 'history matters', since institutions clearly form and evolve over time. Unfortunately, however, the next logical step has not yet been taken, which is to recognise that historians (and not only economic historians) might also have useful and distinctive insights to offer. This article endeavours to open and sustain a constructive dialogue between history--understood as both 'the past' and 'the discipline'--and development policy by (a) clarifying what the craft of historical scholarship entails, especially as it pertains to understanding causal mechanisms, contexts, and complex processes of institutional change; (b) providing examples of historical research that support, qualify, or challenge the most influential research (by economists and economic historians) in contemporary development policy; and (c) offering some general principles and specific implications that historians, on the basis of the distinctive content and method of their research, bring to development policy debates.
format	Journal Article
author	Woolcock, Michael Szreter, Simon Rao, Vijayendra
author_facet	Woolcock, Michael Szreter, Simon Rao, Vijayendra
author_sort	Woolcock, Michael
title	How and Why Does History Matter for Development Policy?
title_short	How and Why Does History Matter for Development Policy?
title_full	How and Why Does History Matter for Development Policy?
title_fullStr	How and Why Does History Matter for Development Policy?
title_full_unstemmed	How and Why Does History Matter for Development Policy?
title_sort	how and why does history matter for development policy?
publishDate	2012
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5027
_version_	1764393649271996416

How and Why Does History Matter for Development Policy?

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