Exploration in Development Issues: Selected Articles of Nurul Islam(Routledge Revivals)

This title was first published in 2003. Nurul Islam, currently head of economic and social policy at the FAO/UN and a key advisor at the International Food Policy Research Institute, has been a renowned expert on economic development for the past thirty years. Over that time he has researched and written about a wide range of economic development issues, focussing mainly on policy. For the first time ever, his most important writings have been brought together in this volume, reflecting not only Professor Islam’s own views on particular issues, but also providing a unique overview of the key debates and discussions taking place among academic economist and policy analysts over the past three decades. The collection is divided into three main sections: trade and aid, development strategy, and food security, the section on food security being the most recent. It discusses food security in a broad sense, covering issues of availability and growth in food production, access or entitlement of individuals or households to basic food, and variability in food supplies and prices. In the section on Development Strategy, Professor Islam highlights how theoretical argument has veered away from organized ’development planning’ models which proved so important in the 1960s. He questions the role of models and policies throughout the decades and, following articles written in the 1970s or 80s, he includes articles he has recently completed, assessing the previous ones from his current perspective. In the final section, on Trade and Aid, he follows the academic debate on trade and exchange rate policies in developing countries from the 1960s to the progress of the WTO forums of today. This is a wide-ranging and thought-provoking volume. No matter whether the subject in question was examined in the 1960s or currently, Professor Islam provides a challenging and insightful analysis, and even the earliest articles retain relevance and will be of continuing interest.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Introduction: an overview. Development Strategy: Concepts in Development Economics: Development of the labour surplus economy; Concepts and measurement of unemployment and underemployment in developing economies; External economies and the doctrine of balanced growth. Development Strategy: Planning Models and Implementation: The relevance of development models to planning; Development planning and plan implementation: lessons of experience. Development Strategy: Lessons of Past Experience: National import substitution and inward looking strategies: policies of less developed countries; Learning from East Asia: lessons for South Asia - an epilogue; Reflections on development perspectives since the 1950s; Lessons of experience: development policy and practice. Food Security: Agricultural Progress: Past Performance: Green revolution in Asia: a few aspects and some lessons; Overview to 'Population and Food in the Early 21st Century'; Asia's food and agriculture: future perspectives and policy influences; Comments on "The Issue of Sustainability in Third World Food Production"; Linkages between agriculture and the overall economy. Food Security: Policy Reforms in Agriculture: Government: issues in policy reform; Tensions between economics and politics in dealing with agriculture; Commercialization of agriculture and food security: development strategy and trade policy issues. Food Security: Poverty and Undernutrition: Agricultural growth, technological progress and rural poverty; Undernutrition and poverty: magnitude, pattern, and measures for alleviation; Hunger, famines and poverty: a few considerations of political economy. Food Security: Instability of Food Supplies and Prices: World food security: national and international measures for stabilization of supplies; Instability in world food prices in the post-Uruguay round situation: prospects and policy issues. Trade and Aid: National Trade Policy: Comparative costs, factor proportions and industrial efficiency in Pakistan; Export incentive and effective subsidy in Pakistan: an evaluation; The new protectionism and the nature of world trade: comments. trade and Aid: Issues in Development Assistance: Recent trends in the theory of international investment; International economic assistance in the 1970s - a critique of partners in development; Foreign assistance and economic development: the case of Pakistan; Economic policy reforms and the IMF: Bangladesh experience in the early 1970s. Trade and Aid: World Trade Issues: Progress of the GATT negotiations on agriculture and developing countries: options and strategies; Is agricultural trade liberalization bad for environment?

Review :
’This volume presents the collected wisdom of a distinguished economist whose academic contributions have been immensely enriched by his varied experience inside policy making institutions at both the national and international levels.’ Gustav Ranis, Director of the Yale Center for International and Area Studies, Yale University, USA 'This is an extraordinary book written by one of the finest analytical economists of south Asia, engaged in formulating, implementing and thinking about development policy...Reflect his very sharp mind, the ability to see different issues in a proper perspective and present them clearly to take the readers through the arguments and counter arguments and letting them judge for themselves, what kind of policies actually work and what do not...There is a lot to learn and appreciate in these papers for which Nurul Islam deserves high compliments.' Economic and Political Weekly '...the book certainly is an excellent source to get a better understanding of the historical evolution of (agricultural) development theory and thinking...the selection of articles is testimony of a highly productive researcher and development policy analyst who is dedicated to contributing with his intellectual work to the fight against poverty and food insecurity in low income countries. The book and its author therefore deserve great respect and a widely spread readership of people who share the author's interests.' Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture