Economic Development: The History of an Idea

By H.W. Arndt

Book Overview

"Economic Development makes an important contribution of the literature on economic development, especially as it incorporates ideas on a theme that informs our concern for social justice, individual and social freedom, identify, and community."--Winston E. Langley, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226027228
• ISBN13: 9780226027227
• Release Date: August 1989
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 230 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Good Survey that Begs for a Revised Edition

Arndt traces the origins of the term "economic development" and the change in its dominant meanings from ones dealing primarily with economic growth to those dealing with social equity/justice. Two of the last three chapters outline the critiques of the "left" (i.e. dependency theorists and neo-Marxists) and the "right" (i.e. Westerners skeptical of developing countries' capacities for economic development and non-Westerners who worry that it has corrosive effects on traditional societies). This is a good historical survey of the idea from the end of World War II through the early 1980s.For anyone with some familiarity with contemporary development literature, what is striking is what is missing. There is no discussion of the impact of the monetarist or Austrian schools on economic development. While not many of these economists focused on economic development, their work was influential in changing the decision-making emphases of policymakers in the 1980s and 1990s. The return to largely neoliberal approaches in development aid by the World Bank and individual countries has been quite controversial in the economic and public policy literatures, but is not addressed here. As a previous reviewer noted there is scant discussion of the "Asian tigers" model of economic development. Perhaps, these omissions are due to its publication date of 1987. This work begs for a revised edition.Basically, this is a good starting point especially for those interested in policy and political economy. However, you also need to turn elsewhere to understand developments of the last 20 years. (BTW for those who like to write in the margins, this work has half-inch outer ones.)

A Must Read for anyone interested in this topic.

An excellent book. A classic in the field of developmental economics.