Home / Lectures / Nicole Biggart, University of California-Davis

Part I: Economic Sociology
  • An Institutional Perspective on Development: Social Organizaion and the Rise of the Auto Industries in South Korea, Taiwan, Spain, and Argentina

Nicole Biggart, University of California-Davis

Description

Semester:

  • Winter 1999

Speakers:

Nicole Biggart, Management and Sociology, University of California-Davis

Lecture Time:

Fri, March 12, 1999 @ 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm

Lecture Location:

Room 4212, School of Education

Speaker Webpage(s):

http://www.gsm.ucdavis.edu/Faculty/index.aspx?id=540

Introduced By:

No introduction available.

Abstract

Theories of economic development as diverse as modernization, dependency, world-system, and market reform adopt a “critical factor” view. Each argues that countries fail to develop because an obstacle stands in the way of economic growth. We argue instead that there is neither a critical factor nor a single path that leads to economic development; viable paths vary. Economic growth depends on linking a country’s historically developed patterns of social organization to the opportunities of global markets. We build on Ricardo’s idea of comparative advantage to formulate a sociological theory of cross-national comparative advantage. Our perspective includes not only economic factor endowments but also institutionalized patterns of authority and organization. Such patterns legitimize certain actors and relationships among them that facilitate development success in certain activities but not others. We illustrate this approach to understanding development outcomes with a comparative analysis of the difficult rise of the automobile assembly and components industries in South Korea, Taiwan, Spain, and Argentina.

Recording & Additional Notes

No recordings available.

Organizers: Wayne Baker, Jerry Davis, and Mark Mizruchi, University of Michigan
Introducer: Glenn Hoetker, International Business