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Title: Economic Development: The History of an Idea by H. W. Arndt ISBN: 0-226-02722-8 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Pub. Date: July, 1989 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A Must Read for anyone interested in this topic.
Comment: An excellent book. A classic in the field of developmental economics.
Rating: 5
Summary: excellent overview using "history of ideas" approach
Comment: If you are looking for a description of the genesis of the idea of economic development--more accurately, "development"--I think you will find in Arndt the scope, concision, depth, expertise, and sophistication necessary for an educated introduction to this topic.
In the introductory chapter, Arndt offers a concise summary of the intellectual rivulets contributing to the modern understanding of development: "Higher living standards. A rising per capita income. Increase in productive capacity. Mastery over nature. Freedom through control of man's environment. Economic growth. But not mere growth, growth with equity. Elimination of poverty. Basic needs satisfaction. Catching up with the developed countries in technology, wealth, power, status. Economic independence, self-reliance. Scope for self-fulfillment for all. Liberation, the means to human ascent. Development, in the vast literature on the subject, appears to have come to encompass almost all facets of the good society, everyman's road to utopia" (p. 1).
With expert facility, he traces the inception of the idea of economic development as a conscious abstraction guiding the emergent European nation-states of the seventeenth century, its dramatic growth in international importance post-World War II, and its most recent variations in leftist revisionism and rightist reactions. Using the "history of ideas" approach, he locates the origin, expansion, rejection, and modification of the idea of development in the explicit statements of key individuals in various historical contexts who more or less take up where have other important figures have left off. Deriving from the study of the humanities, the "history of ideas" approach is a richly instructive means of constructing cultural history.
In the last chapter, Arndt acknowledges that the interpretation of development has been so diverse that "one sometimes wonders whether it stands for anything more substantial than everyone's own utopia" (p. 165). Although he concedes that "the word seems to have all but lost any specific meaning," he argues that this judgment misinterprets because "development still means something, as evidenced by the fact that some are against it." Certainly, the nuances of this widely embracing idea are considerably fleshed out by the end of the book, to the well-deserved credit of the author.
Some personal notes. I found it especially interesting that the papal social encyclicals drop into the same category as Mahatma Gandhi and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as rightist reactions to Western models of development. I might add that despite repugnance of the West toward Khomeini, his ideas and their Islamic context are worthy of serious inspection. Last point: I thought that given the success of authoritarian export-oriented models of development, achieved in countries like Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea, the contribution of East Asia to the dialogue on development, such as Lee Kuan Yew's espousal of "Asian Values" or Deng Xiaoping's vision of "Pragmatic Socialism"--is it really market capitalism managed by an authoritarian government professing socialism?--would have secured substantive coverage in the book.
Arndt's survey will bring you up-to-date on the idea of development, but in order to gain a genuinely deep understanding, it is probably necessary to read other books, for which Arndt's publication provides ample references.
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Title: Dynamic Modeling of Environmental Systems (Modeling Dynamic Systems) by Michael L. Deaton, James J. Winebrake, Springer ISBN: 0387988807 Publisher: Springer Verlag Pub. Date: December, 1999 List Price(USD): $69.95 |
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Title: Ozone Diplomacy: New Directions in Safeguarding the Planet by Richard Elliot Benedick ISBN: 0674650034 Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr Pub. Date: March, 1998 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: Introduction to Econometrics by James H. Stock, Mark W. Watson ISBN: 0201715953 Publisher: Pearson Addison Wesley Pub. Date: 16 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $119.00 |
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Title: Our Changing Planet: An Introduction to Earth System Science and Global Environmental Change (3rd Edition) by Fred T. Mackenzie ISBN: 0130651729 Publisher: Prentice Hall Pub. Date: 07 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $77.33 |
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Title: Against the Tide by Douglas A. Irwin ISBN: 0691058962 Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 22 December, 1997 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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