Distribution and Development: A New Look at the Developing World

Most of the world's people live in "developing" economies, as do most of the world'spoor. The predominant means of economic development is economic growth. In this book Gary Fieldsasks to what extent and in what circumstances economic growth improves the material standard ofliving of a country's people. Most development economists agree that economic growth raises theincomes of people in all parts of the income distribution and lowers the poverty rate. At the sametime, some groups lose out because of changes accompanying economic growth. Fields examines thesebeliefs, asking what variables should be measured to determine whether progress is being made andwhat policies and circumstances cause some countries to do better than others. He also shows how thesame data can be interpreted to reach different, even conflicting, conclusions. Using boththeoretical and empirical approaches, Fields defines and examines inequality, poverty, incomemobility, and economic well-being. Finally, he considers various policies for broad-basedgrowth.Copublished with the Russell Sage Foundation.

Gary S. Fields is Professor of Labor Economics and Economics in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University.