Scarcity, conflicts and cooperation

The institutional framework of an economy defines opportunities for individuals, determines the business climate, and shapes the incentives and organizations for collective action by local communities in resolving their common problems.

Institutional failures, weak accountability mechanisms, and missed opportunities for cooperative problem solving are the main themes of the book, with the role of distributive conflicts in the persistence of dysfunctional institutions a common thread. Special issues taken up include the institutions for securing property rights and resolving coordination failures; the structural basis of power; commitment devices and political accountability; the complex relationship between democracy and poverty (with examples from India, where both have been durable); decentralization and devolution of power; persistence of corruption; ethnic conflicts; and impediments to collective action (including a study of cooperation in irrigation in Tamil Nadu).

The essays are important for understanding the development process and the problems of governance and institutional change in developing countries with issues examined often in the empirical context of India.