Immiserizing Growth: When Growth Fails the Poor

Immiserizing growth occurs when growth fails to benefit, or harms, those at the bottom. It is not a new concept, appearing in some of the towering figures of the classical tradition of political economy including Malthus, Ricardo, and Marx. It is also not empirically insignificant, occurring in between 10% and 35% of cases. In spite of this, it has not received its due attention in the academic literature, dominated by the prevailing narrative that 'growth is good for the poor'. Immiserizing Growth: When Growth Fails the Poor challenges this view to arrive at a better understanding of when, why, and how growth fails the poor.

Taking a diverse disciplinary perspective, Immiserizing Growth combines discussion of mechanisms of this troubling economic phenomenon with empirical data on trends in growth, poverty, and related welfare indicators. It draws on political economy, applied social anthropology, and development studies, including contributions from experts in these fields. A number of methodological approaches are represented including statistical analysis of household survey and cross-country data, detailed ethnographic work and case study analysis drawing on secondary data. Geographical coverage is wide including Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, the People's Republic of China, Singapore, and South Korea, in addition to cross-country analysis.

This volume is the first full-length treatment of immiserizing growth, and constitutes an important step in redirecting attention to this major challenge.

Paul Shaffer, Associate Professor, Trent University, Canada, Ravi Kanbur, T.H. Lee Professor of World Affairs, International Professor of Applied Economics and Management, and Professor of Economics, Cornell University, USA,Richard Sandbrook, Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Science, University of Toronto, Canada

Paul Shaffer is an Associate Professor of International Development Studies, at Trent University, Canada. His work focuses on poverty in the Global South on which he has published widely. He is the author of Q-Squared: Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches in Poverty Analysis (2013).

Ravi Kanbur has published in the leading economics journals, including Journal of Political Economy, American Economic Review, Review of Economic Studies, Journal of Economic Theory and Economic Journal. He has also served on the senior staff of the World Bank including as Chief Economist for Africa. He is President of the Human Development and Capabilities Association, Chair of the Board of United Nations University-World Institute for Development Economics Research, Co-Chair of the Scientific Council of the International Panel on Social Progress, member of the OECD High Level Expert Group on the Measurement of Economic Performance, Past-President of the Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, past member of the High Level Advisory Council of the Climate Justice Dialogue, and past-member of the Core Group of the Commission on Global Poverty.


Richard Sandbrook is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Toronto. His current research focuses on the Left's experience in the Global South and on counter-hegemonic globalization. He has taught in Kenya as well as Canada and has been a visiting research fellow at the IDS, Sussex and the Centre for Development Research in Copenhagen. He has conducted field work mainly in Africa. He has published more than 50 scholarly articles and 12 books, including most recently Reinventing the Left in the Global South: The Politics of the Possible (2014), Civilizing Globalization: A Survival Guide {2014), and Social Democracy in the Global Periphery: Origins, Challenges, Prospects (2007).