Human Development in the Era of Globalization: Essays in Honor of Keith B. Griffin

Honoring Keith Griffin's more than 40 years of fundamental contributions to the discipline of economics, the papers in this volume reflect his deep commitment to advancing the well-being of the world's poor majority and his unflinching willingness to question conventional wisdom as to how this should be done. Four overarching themes recur in Keith Griffin's work and this book: the need to both eradicate poverty and redress inequalities in the distribution of wealth within and among nations; the impact of growth on inequality, and conversely inequality's impact on growth; the political economy of policy-making; and the need for openness to heterogeneity in both analytic tools and in policy recommendations. The volume begins with an introduction by the editors followed by a paper by Keith Griffin. In succeeding chapters the contributors explore strategies for reducing poverty and inequality, and provide perspectives on issues such as human development, the rural/urban divide in China, and biodiversity and sustainability. Students, researchers, policymakers and NGO analysts exploring issues in development economics, development studies, alternative economic systems, globalization, environmental sustainability, inequality and well-being will find this book of great interest.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Introduction James K. Boyce, Stephen Cullenberg, Prasanta K. Pattanaik and Robert Pollin A Witness of Two Revolutions Keith B. Griffin PART I: PERSPECTIVES ON CHINESE DEVELOPMENT 1. The Fall in Chinese Poverty: Issues of Measurement, Incidence and Cause Carl Riskin 2. The Rural–Urban Divide and the Evaluation of Political Economy in China John Knight, Li Shi and Lina Song 3. Socialist Fetters? Land Tenure and Economic Growth in Post-Mao Rural China Mark D. Brenner PART II: AGRICULTURE AND RURAL POVERTY 4. A Future for Small Farms? Biodiversity and Sustainable Agriculture James K. Boyce 5. The Impact of Policy Reforms on Rural Poverty in Brazil: Evidence from Three States in the 1990s Steven M. Helfand and Edward S. Levine 6. Has Columbia Finally Found an Agrarian Reform that Works? Albert Berry PART III: DIMENSIONS OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 7. Death and Development Bob Sutcliffe 8. On Comparing Functioning Bundles and Capability Sets Prasanta K. Pattanaik 9. Environment, Poverty and Development Charles Perrings PART IV: GLOBALIZATION AND INEQUALITY 10. Globalization and the Transition to Egalitarian Development Robert Pollin 11. Gender Equality, Public Finance and Globalization Diane Elson 12. Class Transition in the Age of Globalization: Examples from the Rural Sectors in India and Kenya Anjan Chakrabarti, Stephen Cullenberg and Mwangi wa Gîthînji 13. What Will Become of the Welfare State? Victor D. Lippit PART V: STRATEGIES FOR REDUCING POVERTY AND INEQUALITY 14. The Structure and Distribution of Personal Income and Poverty Reduction: A Case Study of Bangladesh During the 1990s Azizur Rahman Khan and Binayak Sen 15. Poverty as Injustice: Refocusing the Policy Agenda Rehman Sobhan 16. Economic Policies and Poverty Reduction in Asia and the Pacific: Alternatives to Neoliberalism Terry McKinley Appendix: Curriculum Vitae for Professor Keith B. Griffin Index

About the Author :
Edited by James K. Boyce, Professor of Economics and Program Director for Development, Peacebuilding, and the Environment, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, US, the late Stephen Cullenberg, formerly Professor of Economics, Prasanta K. Pattanaik, Professor of Economics, University of California, Riverside, US and Robert Pollin, Professor and founding Co-Director, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, US

Review :
'This volume provides a very high quality set of papers on the relationship between globalization and human development... any one with interest in this wide ranging subject matter would find the volume an interesting and engaging read.' - Global Business Review