Introduction

This book takes up the challenge. By juxtaposing theory and empirical evidence from a variety of sources, it attempts to demonstrate that institutions are important, that their role needs to be analysed if we are to understand social and economic patterns, and that it is possible to explore these issues empirically. A collective effort, it brings together the work of economists and sociologists in research programmes in a number of European institutions concerned with development, in Germany, the UK, Switzerland, Hungary and Denmark. Most of the research reported here is based on work in Asia, but the intention is not a systematic analysis of Asian labour institutions. Rather the aim is to contribute to a broader debate on institutions in development on the basis of Asian experiences.