Development Economics through the Decades

A Critical Look at Thirty Years of the World Development Report

Shahid Yusuf

• Publisher: World Bank Publications
• Year: 2008
• eBook ISBN: 9780821377567
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Since 1978, the World Bank's annual 'World Development Report' (WDR) has provided in-depth analysis and policy recommendations on a specific and important aspect of international development from agriculture, the role of the state, economic growth, and labor to infrastructure, health, the environment, and poverty. In the process, it has become a highly influential publication that is consulted by international organizations, national governments, scholars, and civil society networks to inform their decision-making processes. In this essay, Shahid Yusuf examines the last 30 years of development economics, viewed through the WDRs. The essay begins with a brief background on the circumstances of newly independent developing countries and summarizes some of the main strands of the emerging field of development economics. It then provides a sweeping examination of the coverage of the WDRs, reflecting on the key development themes synthesized by these reports and assessing how the research they present has contributed to policy making and development thought. The book then looks ahead and points to some of the big challenges that the World Bank may explore through future WDRs. The essay is followed by five commentaries, each written by a distinguished economist or development practitioner, which further explore this terrain from different perspectives. Together, the contents of this volume provide an extraordinary and remarkably compact tour of development economics through, around, and beyond the WDR. It will be invaluable to anyone interested in the evolution of development economics over the past three decades as well as for students, scholars, and policy makers in the field of development. To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 'World Development Report', this book is being simultaneously published with 'The Complete World Development Report, 1978–2009'. This DVD is a fully-searchabel digital archive that contains the full collection of WDRs. For more information about the DVD or the 'World Development Report', visit www.worldbank.org/wdr.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Contributors
• 1. A Star Is Born
• 2. Freeing the World of Poverty
• 3. How Much Farther Can We See?
• 4. Where To Now?
• Commentary The World Development Report at Thirty: A Birthday Tribute or a Funeral Elegy?
• Commentary The World Bank and the Evolving Political Economy of Development
• Commentary The Indomitable in Pursuit of the Inexplicable: The World Development Reports’ Failure to Comprehend Economic Growth Despite Determined Attempts, 1978–2008
• Commentary The Evolution of Development Economics and East Asia’s Contribution
• Commentary The World Development Report: Development Theory and Policy
• Appendix A List of World Development Reports, 1978–2008
• Appendix B Citations of World Development Reports in Peer-Reviewed Articles, 1990–2005
• References
• Index
• Figure 1.1 Growth Rates of Developing and Developed Countries, 1961–74
• Figure 1.2 Growth Rates of Six Developing Countries, 1956–71
• Figure 1.3 Average Growth Rates of Five Industrial Countries, 1871–1970
• Figure 1.4 Per Capita Average Growth Rates of Five Industrial Countries, 1871–1970
• Figure 1.5 Growth Rates of Developing Countries, 1972–90
• Figure 3.1 Net Foreign Direct Investment in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, 2000–06
• Figure 4.1 Per Capita GDP Growth of the United States, 1870–2003
• Figure 4.2 Per Capita GDP Growth of Korea, 1960–2003
• Figure C.1 The Transition to a High-Growth Path
• Table 2.1 Total Rain-Fed and Irrigated Land in 12 Agriculture-Dependent Countries with High Population Growth Rates, 2000 and 2050
• Table 3.1 Net Foreign Direct Investment in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, 2000–06
• Table 3.2 Average Investment of Slow-Growing South Asian and Sub-Saharan Africa Countries and India, 1990–2006