Editorial Review:
The study of development in low-income countries is attracting more attention around the world than ever before. Yet until now there has been no comprehensive text that incorporates the huge strides made in the subject over the past decade. Development Economics does precisely that in a clear, rigorous, and elegant fashion. Debraj Ray, one of the most accomplished theorists in development economics today, presents in this book a synthesis of recent and older literature in the field and raises important questions that will help to set the agenda for future research. He covers such vital subjects as theories of economic growth, economic inequality, poverty and undernutrition, population growth, trade policy, and the markets for land, labor, and credit. A common point of view underlies the treatment of these subjects: that much of the development process can be understood by studying factors that impede the efficient and equitable functioning of markets. Diverse topics such as the new growth theory, moral hazard in land contracts, information-based theories of credit markets, and the macroeconomic implications of economic inequality come under this common methodological umbrella. The book takes the position that there is no single cause for economic progress, but that a combination of factors--among them the improvement of physical and human capital, the reduction of inequality, and institutions that enable the background flow of information essential to market performance--consistently favor development. Ray supports his arguments throughout with examples from around the world. The book assumes a knowledge of only introductory economics and explains sophisticated concepts in simple, direct language, keeping the use of mathematics to a minimum. Development Economics will be the definitive textbook in this subject for years to come. It will prove useful to researchers by showing intriguing connections among a wide variety of subjects that are rarely discussed together in the same book. And it will be an important resource for policy-makers, who increasingly find themselves dealing with complex issues of growth, inequality, poverty, and social welfare.
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Customer Reviews
Average Customer Rating: 
A very good introductory book 2008-04-16
I used this textbook for an introductory Development Economics class and thought it was very good. Economics textbooks generally seem to focus on teaching lots of methods and models, which are susbquently supposed to be used to solve highly idealised problems. This in itself is not bad (and probably it is neccesary to some extent), but this is not nearly enough.
The good thing about this book is that it always cares more about the subject matter and less about models *for their own sake.* The book always discusses different models and then afterwards evaluates the model and sees how it matches up to empirical evidence (its remarkable how most textbooks don't do this). In this way, one gains a good, overall understanding of the issues being discussed rather than just learning some facts about which model predicts what. Since the subject matter itself is interesting (at least in my opinion), a book written in this way is naturally interesting and absorbing.
On the negative side, some of the chapters seem to be unneccesarily long (especially the part on credit markets). This is not a big problem though. More on the enviornment, corruption, etc... would also be very nice. I also think that more information on the historical experiences of countries (when it is related to the topic at hand, of course) would be very interesting and helpful.
Overall, I think this is a very good book for anyone who wants to learn about development, poverty, and related issues from an economic perspective.
development economics 2007-01-09
Very useful and interesting book about the basics oc development economics.
Well written and easy to understand also by non mother-tongue people.
I vividly recommend it!
The basics of Development economics.  2006-09-18
With Debraj Ray's book, the study of Development Economics finally becomes more accessible to all those interested. It is written for the undergraduate level and is accessible to non-economists as well. The book is a formalisation of the theories on growth and development that have been published until now and gives a very good overview of the subject.
Two things, however are to criticise. First of all, it is a magnum opus that would be a lot more comfortable to read as a paperback. Second, the information presented in this book is huge, yet doesn't go into sufficient and into equal detail for all factors of growth that are presented in this book. In other words, the presentation of the different factors is at a rather general level, however some factors seem to stand out more than others, which is somewhat a little annoying, since growth depends on many factors, some of which are too narrowly described.
The style however is straight-forward and is not limited to economists alone. At the same time, a good understanding of both macro- and microeconomics (in particular) will be useful. The book should also ideally be read together with some further readings so that the reader fully understands the contents and the points that the author is stressing. Yet, it is a fabulous book that can serve as an ideal starting-step for further study in the area. Four points are therefore awarded for this book.
Full five stars! This is what I call "A BOOK"! 2006-04-03
In view that there are extended critics that already say what I feel about this book, I just qualify it: Outstanding, superb! I strongly recommend it!
Good deal for books 2005-10-01
The book is in excillent condition as it was described and the price is good. However it's better to go directly with their website.
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