Distribution and Development
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.Copublished with the Russell Sage Foundation.
About the Author
Gary S. Fields is Professor of Labor Economics and Economics in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University.
—Francois Bourguignon, Chief Economist and Senior Vice President, Development Economics, The World Bank
—Gustav Ranis, Frank Altschul Professor of International Economics, Yale University
—Francois Bourguignon, Professor of Economics, School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences/Delta
—Marvin Soroos, Department of Political Science, North Carolina State University
—Murray Liebbrandt, Director, School of Economics, University of Cape Town, South Africa
—Lyn Squire, Director, The Global Development Network, The World Bank