Evolution of Development Policy: A Reinterpretation

This book, the first of its kind in terms of the reinterpretation of the existing literature on development policy and of the actual development experience using a paradigmatic framework (which is original to this book), expands on five overarching themes. Firstly, it seeks to dissipate the current confusion about the overarching principle(s) of development that has had an adverse impact on the course of economic development. Secondly, the book demonstrates, with the help of extensive empirical evidence, that the traditional emphasis on Structural Transformation (the rising share of manufacturing as a percentage of total output) is indeed the key to development process. Thirdly, the book maintains that rather than looking at some of the basic policy issues-market versus the government, economic growth versus macroeconomic stability versus human development, export expansion versus import-substitution, physical versus human capital, etc-in a confrontational either-or fashion, the way to decide on them is to evaluate them in the light of real-life experience of the successful developers, especially of those scoring growth miracles. Fourth, this book has sought to answer the rather baffling question as to why should there still be so much altercation on the key development issues even in the face of clear empirical evidence to the contrary. The book asserts that these perceptional differences can be explained in terms of the economists' respective 'paradigmatic affiliations'. Fifth, the book argues that central development decisions about growth, equity, poverty reduction, human development, and macroeconomic stability, should be taken together in a holistic framework.