Policy Brief
Development Success

What, if anything, can today's developing countries learn from the past strategies of more advanced countries? the answer is 'a great deal', despite the obvious fact that the development environment has changed significantly. Based on 11 themes, this Policy Brief highlights the synthesis of historical accounts on the development success of a number of more economically advanced countries as gathered from in-depth case studies. The coverage includes four of the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden), non-Nordic advanced countries (Ireland, Japan and Switzerland) and some transition economies (Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland), along with their respective country-grouping syntheses. The recurrent themes should provide useful lessons for developing countries and emerging economies.