Towards an Elite Theory of Economic Development

An Inquiry into Sustainable Value Creation
1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-3-11-073890-2
Verlag: De Gruyter

Buch, Englisch, 850 Seiten, Format (B × H): 170 mm x 240 mm

Institutions, the humanly devised constraints of economic activity, are outcomes of elite agency. Leveraging ideas from economics, sociology, politics, and strategic management, this book proposes an ‘elite theory of economic development’. The overarching goal is to foster sustainable value creation at the elite business model level. This work also aims to contribute to transformational leadership, and links are made to the annual Elite Quality Index (EQx), a measure of the value creation of national elites. - Presents a theory of society, the economy, and the way the world actually is.
- Provides lucid analysis on elites and their contribution to economic and human development.
- Suggests practical frameworks and measurements for sustainable value creation and appropriation.

Zielgruppe

Academic researchers, graduate students and practitioners in poli

Autoren/Hrsg.

Casas-Klett, Tomas

Fachgebiete

• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Volkswirtschaftslehre Allgemein Wirtschaftstheorie, Wirtschaftsphilosophie
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Betriebswirtschaft Management
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Internationale Wirtschaft Entwicklungsökonomie & Emerging Markets

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preliminary note: The process and purpose of a conceptual approach Part 1. Towards a Logic of Elites
1.1 In populism and in denial, two elite fallacies
1.2 Multi-disciplinary literature review for a definition of elites
1.3 The logic of elite agency (i): fundamentals
1.4 The logic of elite agency (ii): theoretical perspectives
1.5 The logic of elite agency (iii): behavioral perspectives Part 2. Towards an Elite Theory of Economic Development
2.1 Elites in political economy theory
2.2 Elites and institutions, which comes first?
2.3 Power in elite contests
2.4 Value creation business models: production, exchange and innovation
2.5 Value extraction business models: transfers
2.6 Elite business models: aggregate at the meso-level and impact on macro-level performance Part 3. Towards an Elite Quality Measurement of the Political Economy
3.1 Is there a measurement gap?
3.2 Operationalization of elite quality, a four-level architecture
3.3 Interpretation through rankings, frameworks and narratives (macro-level)
3.4 Shaping intra-elite contests
3.5 Further research
3.6 Selected limitations for the ‘elite quality index’ Closing note: Latifundia perdidere Germaniam and how not to lose the future Bibliography

Über Autor(innen)

Tomas Casas-Klett is a permanent faculty member at the University of St.Gallen’s School of Management (SoM), Research Institute for International Management (FIM-HSG), the Director of its China Competence Center, and serves as a visiting Professor at leading universities in Asia, including the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. His research interests include economic development, geopolitics and the global political economy, elites and leadership in top teams, entrepreneurship, international business, and the financial aspects of sustainable value creation. He is also the co-founder and co-editor of the Elite Quality Index (EQx) and the Value Creation Rating (VCr) reports which respectively measure the sustainable value creation of nations and firms. Tomas holds a BSc in finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, an MSc from Fudan University in Shanghai, and a PhD in economics from the University of St.Gallen, Switzerland.