The Economics of Development: The Procrustean Bed of Mainstream EconomicsHandbook of Development Economics. Hollis B. Chenery , T. N. Srinivasan

Abstract

In this essay, I attempt the dual task of appraising the state of development economics and the approaches that now dominate the field. The publication under review (hereafter the Handbook) makes this possible and invites it, for it is not an ordinary anthology. The authors are leading economists, mostly with a penchant for formal models, quantification, and applied econometrics. They do a thorough job of presenting the work that fits this tradition. Thirty-two essays, spanning some 1,800 pages, pull together in one place the rigorous advances of decades. It is also well integrated. All of us in the field thus owe a great debt to Professors Chenery and Srinivasan. It has been required reading both for me and for my graduate students. This is not the same saying that the mainstream tradition is adequate; it falls short, even woefully, in key respects. The contrast between the predilections of the leading practitioners and the requirements of analyzing the development process surfaces often. My assessment emphasizes the importance of new directions of research and a more open process of inquiry. It calls for a redefinition of purpose well. These are essential if economists are to acquire a grasp of the development process and to contribute to sound policies. The themes in the Handbook follow. The groupings are mine. The Handbook and Development: The Simple and the Complex The editors define development economics as the study of the economic structure and behavior of poor... countries (p. xi, my emphasis). Development is presented a transformation of a traditional peasant society into an industrializing and eventually mature economy. An inner core of issues (structural changes in demand, production, and trade) is delineated from related matters and even more sharply from an outer boundary. The evolution of political and economic institutions is noted, but recognition is pro forma. The focus is on the hard facts of the economic structure and its transformation,