Distribution and Development: A New Look at the Developing World

Most of the world's people live in "developing" economies, as do most of the world's poor. The predominant means of economic development is economic growth. In this book Gary Fields asks to what extent and in what circumstances economic growth improves the material standard of living of a country's people. Most development economists agree that economic growth raises the incomes of people in all parts of the income distribution and lowers the poverty rate. At the same time, some groups lose out because of changes accompanying economic growth. Fields examines these beliefs, asking what variables should be measured to determine whether progress is being made and what policies and circumstances cause some countries to do better than others. He also shows how the same data can be interpreted to reach different, even conflicting, conclusions. Using both theoretical and empirical approaches, Fields defines and examines inequality, poverty, income mobility, and economic well-being. Finally, he considers various policies for broad-based growth.

About the Author :
Gary S. Fields is Professor of Labor Economics and Economics in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University.

Review :
"Education is a key factor in the evolution of societies, one which both affects and reflects the pace of a country's economic growth, the extent of its inequality, and its general social structures. This book offers a brilliant and remarkably clear synthesis of recent work by the economic profession on this complex set of interactions. There is no doubt that it will be an essential reference on the economics of education and education policy for some time."--Francois Bourguignon, Chief Economist and Senior Vice President, Development Economics, The World BankPlease note: There should be a cedilla underneath the "c" in the endorser's first name. "This book will make a significant contribution to the field. It gathers together a variety of approaches from the field of international relations to explore the development of the climate change regime. It fills a niche that suprisingly no other book has filled."--Marvin Soroos, Department of Political Science, North Carolina State University "Fields' combination of simple examples, basic theory, and empirical evidence provides a clear, comprehensive, and current account of how inequality, poverty, and growth interact in the course of development. After reading this book, no one will question that 'economic growth is essential to improving the economic well-being of a nation's people.'"--Lyn Squire, Director, The Global Development Network, The World Bank "This book provides a masterful review of issues that have recently burst back into prominence. The exposition of issues that are sometimes technical and often misunderstood is crystal clear. This together with the effective coupling of theoretical and empirical work will ensure a ready market in the research community and far beyond. The discussion of income mobility takes the reader right to the contemporary frontier in the inequality literature."--Murray Liebbrandt, Director, School of Economics, University of Cape Town, South Africa "Fields's combination of simple examples, basic theory, and empirical evidence provides a clear, comprehensive, and current account of how inequality, poverty, and growth interact in the course of development. After reading this book, no one will question that 'economic growth is essential to improving the economic well-being of a nation's people.'" Lyn Squire , Director, The Global Development Network, The World Bank