Economics and Development Studies

Development studies textbooks and courses have sometimes tended to avoid significant economic content. However, without an understanding of the economic aspects of international development many of the more complex issues cannot be fully comprehended. Economics and Development Studies makes the economic dimension of discourse around controversial issues in international development accessible to second and third year undergraduate students working towards degrees in development studies.


Following an introductory chapter outlining the connections between development economics and development studies, this book consists of eight substantive chapters dealing with the nature of development economics, economic growth and structural change, economic growth and developing countries, economic growth and economic development since 1960, the global economy and the Third World, developing countries and international trade, economics and development policy, and poverty, equality and development economists, with a tenth concluding chapter.

This book synthesizes existing development economics literature in order to identify the salient issues and controversies and make them accessible and understandable. The concern is to distinguish differences within the economics profession, and between economists and non-economists, so that the reader can make informed judgments about the sources of these differences, and about their impact on policy analysis and policy advice. The book features explanatory text boxes, tables and diagrams, suggestions for further reading, and a listing of the economic concepts used in the chapters.