Diversification, Social Capital, and Economic Growth

Work in progress, intended for Ekonomicheskii zhurnal Vysshei shkoly ekonomiki (Economic Journal of the Higher School of Economics), Moscow.

This paper charts the cross-country relationship between economic and political diversification and economic growth in a large sample of countries during 1960-2012, viewing economic diversification and political diversification through increased democracy as two parallel ways of averting national risk. The paper also charts the cross-country linkages among corruption, the rule of law, economic and political diversification, and economic growth, and offers some lessons for the United States, Europe, and Russia where economic diversity shows few signs of change and where democracy and the rule of law earn rather low scores from Freedom House and The World Justice Project.