Beyond the Miracle of the Market

As capitalism defeated socialism in Eastern Europe, the market displaced the state in the developing world. Robert Bates focuses on Kenya, a country that continued to grow while others declined in Africa, and criticizes the neo-classical turn in development economics. Attributing Kenya's exceptionalism to its economic institutions, Bates relates its subsequent economic decline to the change from the Kenyatta to the Moi regime--and the subsequent use of the power of economic institutions to redistribute rather than to create wealth.