Abstract
As we are often reminded nowadays, economic development – in the sense of regular progress and rising prosperity – was a preoccupation of the classical economists. What has come to be called Development Economics, however, is of much more recent origin. Both during and immediately after World War II, the conditions of poverty, illiteracy, disease and mortality in backward agrarian countries aroused keen interest and concern in the West, inspired by humanitarian considerations and, no doubt, those ensuing from the Cold War. The search for ways whereby their people could escape such misery and enjoy rising prosperity engendered a body of diverse doctrines and strong controversy, which has by no means fully subsided.
This chapter was originally published in The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, 1st edition, 1987. Edited by John Eatwell, Murray Milgate and Peter Newman
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Bibliography
Arrow, K.J. 1962. The economic implications of learning by doing. Review of Economic Studies 28(3): 155–173.
Balassa, B., et al. 1971. The structure of protection in developing countries. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Bauer, P.T., and B.S. Yamey. 1957. The economics of underdeveloped countries. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Bhagwati, J.N., and V.K. Ramaswami. 1963. Domestic distortions, tariffs and the theory of optimum subsidy. Journal of Political Economy 71: 44–45.
Chenery, H.B., and M. Syrquin. 1975. Patterns of development. 1950–1970.. London: Oxford University Press.
Diamond, P., and J.A. Mirrlees. 1971. Optimal taxation and public production I: Production efficiency and II: Tax rules. American Economic Review 61: 8–27. and 261–268.
Domar, E.D. 1957. Essays in the theory of economic growth. New York: Oxford University Press.
Fleming, J.M. 1955. External economies and the doctrine of balanced growth. Economic Journal 65: 241–256.
Gerschenkron, A. 1952. Economic backwardness in historical perspective. In The progress of underdeveloped countries, ed. B. Hoselitz. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Hirschman, A.O. 1958. The strategy of economic development. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Kaldor, N. 1957. A model of economic growth. Economic Journal 67: 591–624.
Kuznets, S.S. 1955. Economic growth and income inequality. American Economic Review 45: 1–28.
Kuznets, S.S. 1966. Modern economic growth: Rate, structure and spread. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Lewis, W.A. 1954. Economic development with unlimited supplies of labour. Manchester School 22: 139–191.
Little, I.M.D., and J.A. Mirrlees. 1969. Manual of industrial project analysis in developing countries, vol. II, social cost-benefit analysis. Paris: OECD.
Little, I.M.D., T. Scitovsky, and M. Scott. 1970. Industry and trade in some developing countries. London: Oxford University Press.
Mahalanobis, P.C. 1953. Some observations on the process of growth of national income. Sankhya 12(4): 307–312.
Nurkse, R. 1953. Problems of capital formation in underdeveloped countries. Oxford: Blackwell.
Prebisch, R. 1950. The economic development of Latin America and its principal problems. New York: United Nations.
Rosenstein-Rodan, P.N. 1943. Problems of industrialization of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. Economic Journal 53: 202–211.
Schumpeter, J.A. 1926. Theorie der Wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung, 2nd ed. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot. Trans. as The Theory of Economic Development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1934.
Seers, D. 1969. The meaning of development. International Development Review 11(4): 2–6.
Singer, H.W. 1950. The distribution of gains between investing and borrowing countries. American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings 40: 473–485.
Spraos, J. 1980. The statistical debate on the net barter terms of trade between primary commodities and manufactures. Economic Journal 90: 107–128.
Young, A.A. 1928. Increasing returns and economic progress. Economic Journal 38: 527–542.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1987 The Author(s)
About this entry
Cite this entry
Bell, C. (1987). Development Economics. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_292-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_292-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95121-5
eBook Packages: Living Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Publish with us
Chapter history
-
Latest
Development Economics- Published:
- 17 March 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_292-2
-
Original
Development Economics- Published:
- 09 November 2016
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_292-1