Development Economics

This text on development economics covers such subjects as: theories of economic growth; economic inequality; poverty and undernutrition; population growth; trade policy; labour; and credit. The book takes the view that a combination of factors consistently favour development.

Auteur

Debraj Ray

Texte du rabat

"An elegant, insightful, and extremely effective textbook on development economics. It combines astute theoretical reasoning with a firm grip on empirical circumstances, including institutional possibilities and limitations. There is real originality here without sacrificing usefulness and accessibility."--Amartya Sen, Winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize for Economics, Harvard University

Résumé
Suitable for policy-makers, who increasingly find themselves dealing with complex issues of growth, inequality, poverty, and social welfare, this book presents a synthesis of recent and older literature in the development economics and raises important questions that will help to set the agenda for future research.

Contenu
Preface Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Economic Development: Overview 2.1. Introduction 2.2. Income and growth 2.2.2. Historical experience 2.2.1. Measurement issues 2.3. Income distribution in developing countries 2.4. The many faces of underdevelopment 2.4.1. Human development 2.4.2. An index of human development 2.4.3. Per capita income and human development 2.5. Some structural features 2.5.1. Demographic characteristics 2.5.2. Occupational and production structure 2.5.3. Rapid rural--urban migration 2.5.4. International trade 2.6. Summary Exercises Chapter 3: Economic Growth 3.1. Introduction 3.2. Modern economic growth: Basic features 3.3. Theories of economic growth 3.3.1. The Harrod--Domar model 3.3.2. Beyond Harrod--Domar: Other considerations 3.3.3. The Solow model 3.4. Technical progress 3.5. Convergence? 3.5.1. Introduction 3.5.2. Unconditional convergence 3.5.3. Level convergence: Evidence or lack thereof 3.5.4. Unconditional convergence: A summation 3.5.5. Conditional convergence 3.5.6. Reexamining the data 3.6. Summary Appendix 3.A.1. The Harrod--Domar equations 3.A.2. Production functions and per capita magnitudes Exercises Chapter 4: The New Growth Theories 4.1. Introduction 4.2. Human capital and growth 4.3. Another look at conditional convergence 4.4. Technical progress again 4.4.1. Introduction 4.4.2. Technological progress and human decisions 4.4.3. A model of deliberate technical progress 4.4.4. Externalities, technical progress, and growth 4.4.5. Total factor productivity 4.5. Total factor productivity and the East Asian miracle 4.6. Summary Appendix: Human capital and growth Exercises Chapter 5: History, Expectations, and Development 5.1. Introduction 5.2. Complementarities 5.2.1. Introduction: QWERTY 5.2.2. Coordination failure 5.2.3. Linkages and policy 5.2.4. History versus expectations 5.3. Increasing returns 5.3.1. Introduction 5.3.2. Increasing returns and entry into markets 5.3.3. Increasing returns and market size: Interaction 5.4. Competition, multiplicity, and international trade 5.5. Other roles for history 5.5.1. Social norms 5.5.2. The status quo 5.6. Summary Exercises Chapter 6: Economic Inequality 6.1. Introduction 6.2. What is economic inequality? 6.2.1. The context 6.2.2. Economic inequality: Preliminary observations 6.3. Measuring economic inequality 6.3.1. Introduction 6.3.2. Four criteria for inequality measurement 6.3.3. The Lorenz curve 6.3.4. Complete measures of inequality 6.4. Summary Exercises Chapter 7: Inequality and Development: Interconnections 7.1. Introduction 7.2. Inequality, income, and growth 7.2.1. The Inverted-U hypothesis 7.2.2. Testing the inverted-U hypothesis 7.2.3. Income and inequality: Uneven and compensatory changes 7.2.4. Inequality, savings, income, and growth 7.2.5. Inequality, political redistribution, and growth 7.2.6. Inequality and growth: Evidence 7.2.7. Inequality and demand composition 7.2.8. Inequality, capital markets, and development 7.2.9. Inequality and development: Human capital 7.3. Summary Appendix: Multiple steady states with imperfect capital markets Chapter 8: Poverty and Undernutrition 8.1. Introduction 8.2. Poverty: First principles 8.2.1. Conceptual issues 8.2.2. Poverty measures 8.3. Poverty: Empirical observations 8.3.1. Demographic features 8.3.2. Rural and urban poverty 8.3.3. Assets 8.3.4. Nutrition 8.4. The functional impact of poverty 8.4.1. Poverty, credit, and insurance 8.4.2. Poverty, nutrition, and labor markets 8.4.3. Poverty and the household 8.5. Summary Appendix: More on poverty measures Exercises Chapter 9: Population Growth and Economic Development 9.1. Introduction 9.2. Population: Some basic concepts 9.2.1. Birth and death rates 9.2.2. Age distributions 9.3. From economic development to population growth 9.3.1. The demographic transition 9.3.2. Historical trends in developed and developing countries 9.3.3. The adjustment of birth rates 9.3.4. Is fertility too high? 9.4. From population growth to economic development 9.4.1. Some negative effects 9.4.2. Some positive effects 9.5. Summary Exercises Chapter