Frontiers in Development Policy : A Primer on Emerging Issues

The book has been divided into five parts. Part one focuses on clarifying the basic concepts (that is, what are the appropriate goals of economic policy?), the challenges of low- and middle-income developing countries, and suggested frameworks for analysis. Part two moves from the macroeconomic to the microeconomic; it focuses on the private sector as the engine for growth and is balanced with 'softer' issues of the need for trust, accountability, and corporate social responsibility. Part three examines the growing consensus on the need to balance the public and private sectors' roles in the structural transformation of an economy. The discussion centers on newer thinking on industrial policy and public private partnerships in infrastructure. Part four focuses on human development policies in emerging topics, such as investment in early childhood development, health and nutrition, and quality of education. The discussion recognizes the roles of the state and the private sector. Finally, part five is dedicated to issues of global shocks and risks (including climate change and financial crisis), as well as systems and institutions that need to be in place to manage such risks, and the new thinking on social protection and insurance to mitigate adverse shocks.