The causes and consequences of development clusters: State Capacity, Peace and Income

by

Timothy Besley and Torsten Persson

Abstract

Three important aspects of development -- per-capita income, state capabilities, and (the absence of) political violence -- are closely correlated with each other at the country level. The paper discusses the causes of such development clusters and highlight two explanations: common economic, political and social drivers, and complementarities (two way positive feedbacks). It also draws out preliminary policy implications of these patterns of development, and proposes topics for further research.