Development Economics

Why has human history unfolded so differently across the globe? And what can it teach us about our current crisis? Jared Diamond puts the case that geography and biogeography, not race, moulded the contrasting fates of Europeans, Asians, Native Americans, sub-Saharan Africans, and aboriginal Australians. An ambitious synthesis of history, biology, ecology and linguistics, Guns, Germs and Steel is a ground-breaking and humane work of popular science that can provide expert insight into our modern world. 'The most absorbing account on offer of the emergence of a world divided between have and have-nots... Never before put together so coherently, with such a combination of expertise, charm and compassion' The Times

An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, generally referred to by its shortened title The Wealth of Nations, is the magnum opus of the Scottish economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith. First published in 1776, the book offers one of the world's first collected descriptions of what builds nations' wealth, and is today a fun...

"The hour of capitalism's greatest triumph," writes Hernando de Soto, "is, in the eyes of fourfifths of humanity, its hour of crisis." In The Mystery of Capital, the worldfamous Peruvian economist takes up the question that, more than any other, is central to one of the most crucial problems the world faces today: Why do some countries succeed at...

The Wealth and Poverty of Nations is David S. Landes's acclaimed, bestselling exploration of one of the most contentious and hotly debated questions of our time: Why do some nations achieve economic success while others remain mired in poverty The answer, as Landes definitively illustrates, is a complex interplay of cultural mores and historical ...

"Nothing less than a fullscale assault on conventional economic wisdom."?NewsweekOne the 100 most influential books published since World War II?The Times Literary SupplementHailed as an "ecobible" by Time magazine, E.F. Schumacher's riveting, richly researched statement on sustainability has become more relevant and vital with each year since it...

In the universally acclaimed and awardwinning The Bottom Billion, Paul Collier reveals that fifty failed stateshome to the poorest one billion people on Earthpose the central challenge of the developing world in the twenty-first century. The book shines muchneeded light on this group of small nations, largely unnoticed by the industrialized W...

By the winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economics, an essential and paradigmaltering framework for understanding economic development?for both rich and poor?in the twenty-first century. Freedom, Sen argues, is both the end and most efficient means of sustaining economic life and the key to securing the general welfare of the world's entire popula...

"Does a great job of bringing alive the complexities of poor people’s lives." - Bill Gates

Why economists' attempts to help poorer countries improve their economic wellbeing have failed.Since the end of World War II, economists have tried to figure out how poor countries in the tropics could attain standards of living approaching those of countries in Europe and North America. Attempted remedies have included providing foreign aid, inve...