Governance, Social and Physical Infrastructure, and Development: Development and Economics

Development is the process of structural transformation: the transformation of poor countries into rich countries. It is a multi-dimensional process and spans many areas. Understanding and addressing developmental issues are far more complex due to the fact that poor countries are socially, geographically, and institutionally much more heterogeneous than developed countries. Given their complexity, scholars have addressed development issues using different approaches, different analytical methods, and different views of how societies function. This book grew out of the group projects done by students of Development and Economics in the University of Victoria. The students came from diverse backgrounds with one thing in common – the passion for development studies and empathy for the poor and the under-privileged. Their varied backgrounds and passions are amply reflected in the wide variety of substantive issues these students tried to address. It has been a pleasure teaching them and putting together a book based on their projects. The major strength of this book is that it provides a window to how young minds from very diverse backgrounds think about development issues

Dr. Alok Kumar is currently an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Victoria, Canada. His areas of interest are macroeconomics and development economics. He has worked with Ministry of Finance and Planning Commission, Government of India. He has published in leading journals such as IER and RED.