Mozammel Huq - Böcker

Broad beliefs about the economics of ‘developing countries’ and of the development process have changed considerably since the subject became of wide interest in the 1950s; due largely to changes in the world and in the application of economic policies within developing countries. Subjects such as environment, gender, poverty, famine and globalization have come to be of increasingly important public interest. The extreme divergence of experience among regions of the world has also made it more and more questionable whether it even makes sense to think of a single and distinctive ‘economics of developing countries’.

This textbook presents a concise and up-to-date examination of the field of development economics, bringing together historical perspectives, current issues and policy implications. Each chapter can be read as a stand-alone unit, or as part of the wider economic debates presented throughout the book.

The book is concerned with strategy and tactics for directing that small slice of world income into filling the gap. This must be done country by country, on the initiative of each country’s government: with the maximum involvement of its own civil society, and with the rich world also making a contribution. To add momentum, the international community needs to adopt targets far more specific than the fifty percent extreme ‘poverty reduction’ of the first Millennium Development Goal.

First Published in 1991. This volume, containing the proceedings of a Conference organised by the Science, Technology and Development (STD) Forum in association with the Developing Countries Research Unit (DCRU), University of Strathclyde, on 9-10 April 1990, is a modest attempt at advancing awareness concerning Third World development mainly in two inter-related areas: (a) the problems faced in the advancement of science and technology in the Third World and (b) the use of scientific and technological knowledge for promoting sustainable development of these countries. Given the multi-disciplinary character of the Conference and, in particular, the variety of approaches adopted by the contributors, any attempt to synthesise the papers in a brief introduction is likely to be futile. The best that can be done is to introduce some of the papers in a brief review. But before that a few words on the objectives of the Conference, and in particular on the need for North-South Cooperation in science, technology and development, may be helpful.

The book follows a first edition published in 1989, which focused on the severe economic crisis Ghana faced during the late 1970s and the early 1980s.