In the last few decades development Economics has emerged as an area of renewed interest because of several factors, including the remarkable growth of some developing economies, the massive international Debt build-up of others, and the emergence of the theory of Agrarian organization.

This book, a revision of Basu's celebrated The Less Developed Economy : A Critique of Contemporary Theory, deals with theoretical issues in this important area of Research and policy-making. It incorporates recent theoretical advances in its comprehensive, up-to-date treatment of the subject. The Author draws on a wide range of evidence and anthropological insights, including his own field experience to keep the theory grounded in reality. The exposition is lucid and uses simple Algebra supported with diagrammatic methods, making the book widely accessible. The book is essential reading for students, researchers and Teachers of economics, and for policy-makers.

Table of Contents

• Preface
• Preface to the Less Developed Economy, 1984
• A. Preliminaries :
• I. Introduction :
• The Scenario
• Prospectus
• Economic Rationality and Norms
• On Weighing Scales Known to Be Biased
• From Analysis to Prescription
• B. Macro Perspectives :
• II. The vicious circle of :Poverty
• Introduction
• The Idea of the Vicious Circle
• The Vicious Circle, Industrialization, and Balanced Growth
• The O-Ring Theory of Low Productivity
• Manifestations of Unemployment
• III. Growth and Development :
• The Harrod-Domar Legacy
• The Neoclassical Model
• Endogenous Growth
• Distribution and Development
• Limitations
• IV. Inflation And Structural Disequilibrium :
• Employment Policy and the Inflation Barrier
• Notes on Michael Kalecki
• Structural Disequilibrium
• V. Foreign Exchange And Trade : Some Considerations :
• Closed and Open Economies
• Foreign Exchange Constraints and Growth : A Two-Gap Model
• Aid and Welfare : A Paradoxical Theorem
• The Terms of Trade in the Long Run
• VI. International Debt :
• The Agenda
• The Background
• Sovereign Risk and Rationality
• Some Standard Models
• Loan Pushing
• Debt Forgiveness
• Buybacks and Debt-Equity Swaps
• C. The dual Economy :
• VII. The Structure of a Dual Economy :
• Introduction
• The Lewis Model
• Critiques
• VIII. Migration :
• Migration and Urban Unemployment
• The Harris-Todaro Model
• Policy Issues
• IX. The Rural-Urban Wage Gap :
• The Labor Turnover Model
• Extensions and Critique
• Labor Turnover and Duopsony : A Digression
• X. Unemployment and Surplus Labor :
• Preliminary Remarks
• The Wage-Productivity Model
• Surplus Labor and the Efficiency Wage
• Surplus Labor in the Casual Labor Market
• A Comment on Dualism
• A Collusive Theory of Unemployment
• D. The Rural Economy :
• XI. Stagnation in Backward Agriculture
• Introduction
• A Theory of Stagnation
• The Debt Trap : By Chance or by Design?
• Stagnation and Tenurial Laws
• Alternative Explanations of Stagnation
• Desiderata
• XII. Tenancy and Efficiency :
• Forms of Agricultural Land Tenure
• Share Tenancy
• Screening and Entrepreneurial Ability
• Scale, Productivity, and Tenancy
• XIII. Rural Credit Markets :
• The Lender's Risk Hypothesis
• Monopolistic Markets
• Market Fragmentation
• Credit Policy
• XIV. Interlinkage in Rural Markets :
• Antecedents
• Potential Risk and the Emergence of Interlinkage
• Partial Equilibrium in an Interlinked Market
• Market Equilibrium
• The Structure of Wages and Interest
• The Intertemporal Earnings Approach
• Response to Exogenous Changes
• Moral Hazard and Interlinkage
• Triadic Interactions
• Approach
• E. Concluding Remarks :
• XV. The Limits of Economic Analysis
• Introduction
• On Power, Custom, and Social Institutions
• Some Comments on Method
• Concluding Remarks