ABSTRACT
This chapter constructs a conceptual and original analytical framework called the developmental rent-management analysis (DRMA). The framework provides an analytical tool to examine economic transformation without the presumption of efficient markets, perfectly competitive firms, or an autonomous and capable guiding state. Analytically, the DRMA is not meant to suggest a coherent or new development model, due to great diversity in the paths toward development. Rather, it aims to highlight connections and disconnections among various agents within the political economy and industries. Its purpose is to identify strengths and weaknesses in the structure of incentives and pressures for technological upgrading. The framework is designed for inductive case-study analysis through: (1) analyzing fundamental causes or factors of rent management; (2) determining development outcomes; and (3) observing the overall impacts of rent-management configuration within the political economy. The DRMA allows for a systemic analysis of economic transformation from political, institutional, and economic perspectives. The framework offers scholars, field researchers, and policymakers an alternative analytical approach to better understand the binding constraints of an industry, the complexity of a country’s political economy, and policy solutions to promote developmental outcomes.
