Here is a video of my keynote address at Mt. Holyoke College: 2012 Global Conference Keynote Speaker Dani Rodrik from MHC MCGI on Vimeo.

Imagine you are the leader of a regional power, basking in the glow of global attention to your political and economic success. You have managed to consolidate your power by outmaneuvering your opponents, most critically the military with its habit of pushing out governments not of its liking. ...

To understand what is happening in Turkey’s murky world of judicial politics these days, it helps to imagine you are watching the closing scenes of a Hollywood courtroom drama. The movie’s protagonist stands accused of attempted murder. The prosecutor has produced a set of elaborate plans that t...

Look at the chart below, and you will go a good way towards understanding why the problem with Greece has been allowed to get worse and worse (the proverbial “kicking the can down the road”) to the point where it may have become too late. The chart shows the IMF’s growth projections for Greece...

This has been a long-standing concern of mine: what are the respective roles of ideas iand interests in shaping policy outcomes? The most widely held theory of politics is also the simplest: the powerful get what they want. Financial regulation is driven by the interests of banks, health policy ...

I spent a few short days in Latvia last week. My meetings centered on industrial policy, which Latvia is serious about – quite interestingly for a country that is often viewed as a hotbed of conservative economics. But my time there also gave me an opportunity to reflect on the country’s much di...

Guest Post by Danny Leipziger,Professor of International Business at George Washington University, and former Vice President for Poverty Reduction and Economic Management at the World Bank A new president will take over the World Bank on July 1st. Dr. Jim Kim inherits a venerable institution tha...

For a lot of questions, comparisons of per-capita GDP yield the correct answer to a first-order of approximation. For example, are Americans richer than the Chinese? A comparison of GDPs per capita, adjusted for PPP differences, yields an unambiguous answer in favor of the U.S. Yes, income may...

The Turkish court that sentenced more than 300 officers on coup plotting charges in September apparently thinks so. The Turkish military has long set the ground rules for Turkish politics, and this was hailed as a landmark trial. Many saw it as the centerpiece of a democratic, mildly Islamist gov...