What is the relationship between internal development and integration into the global economy in developing countries? How and why do state–market relations differ? And do these differences matter in the post-cold war era of global conflict and cooperation? Drawing on research in China, India and Russia and examining sectors from textiles to telecommunications, Roselyn Hsueh discusses her new book “Micro-institutional Foundations of Capitalism” and introduces a new theory of sectoral pathways to globalization and development. Adopting a historical and comparative approach, the book’s Strategic Value Framework shows how state elites perceive the strategic value of sectors in response to internal and external pressures. Sectoral structures and organization of institutions further determine the role of the state in market coordination and property rights arrangements. These national configurations of sectoral models are the micro-institutional foundations of capitalism, which mediate globalization and development.