this paper, we will show how path diagrams can be used to solve a number of important problems in structural equation modelling. There are a number of problems associated with structural equation modeling. These problems include:

For nearly a century, investigators in the social sciences have used regression models to deduce cause-and-effect relationships from patterns of association. Path models and automated search procedures are more recent developments. In my view, this enterprise has not been successful. The models tend to neglect the difficulties in establishing causal relations, and the mathematical complexities tend to obscure rather than clarify the assumptions on which the analysis is based. Formal statistical inference is, by its nature, conditional. If maintained hypotheses A, B, C,... hold, then H can be tested against the data. However, if A, B, C,... remain in doubt, so must inferences about H. Careful scrutiny of maintained hypotheses should therefore be a critical part of empirical work-- a principle honored more often in the breach than the observance.

Abstract not found

Earlier research following the modern world system perspective has suggested multinational corporate investment in poor countries can harm chances of long term economic development, thus increasing world inequality in the process of globalization. Especially since the Asian economic miracles of recent decades, other explanations of economic development have focused upon cultural factors. All sides in the debate, however, have neglected the fact that when we examine separate world regions individually the situation becomes far more complex. Multinational corporate investment and open markets in East and Southeast Asia are more likely associated with economic development and reduced poverty when compared to less developed countries in Latin America and Africa. Within Asia, however, countries in similar cultural groupings have had vastly different economic development prospects in the second half of the 20 th century. This paper begins with consideration of methodological shortcomings of the now traditional statistical analysis of comparative data sets in identifying the forces producing economic development or stagnation in the modern global economy. The focus then turns to an historical and comparative analysis of the successful and failed Theravada Buddhist nations

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