Economic Development : The History of an Idea

Rating:
Summary: A Must Read for anyone interested in this topic.
Review: An excellent book. A classic in the field of developmental economics.

Rating:
Summary: Good Survey that Begs for a Revised Edition
Review: Arndt traces the origins of the term "economic development" and the change in its dominant meanings from ones dealing primarily with economic growth to those dealing with social equity/justice. Two of the last three chapters outline the critiques of the "left" (i.e. dependency theorists and neo-Marxists) and the "right" (i.e. Westerners skeptical of developing countries' capacities for economic development and non-Westerners who worry that it has corrosive effects on traditional societies). This is a good historical survey of the idea from the end of World War II through the early 1980s.

For anyone with some familiarity with contemporary development literature, what is striking is what is missing. There is no discussion of the impact of the monetarist or Austrian schools on economic development. While not many of these economists focused on economic development, their work was influential in changing the decision-making emphases of policymakers in the 1980s and 1990s. The return to largely neoliberal approaches in development aid by the World Bank and individual countries has been quite controversial in the economic and public policy literatures, but is not addressed here. As a previous reviewer noted there is scant discussion of the "Asian tigers" model of economic development. Perhaps, these omissions are due to its publication date of 1987. This work begs for a revised edition.

Basically, this is a good starting point especially for those interested in policy and political economy. However, you also need to turn elsewhere to understand developments of the last 20 years. (BTW for those who like to write in the margins, this work has half-inch outer ones.)

Rating:
Summary: Good Survey that Begs for a Revised Edition
Review: Arndt traces the origins of the term "economic development" and the change in its dominant meanings from ones dealing primarily with economic growth to those dealing with social equity/justice. Two of the last three chapters outline the critiques of the "left" (i.e. dependency theorists and neo-Marxists) and the "right" (i.e. Westerners skeptical of developing countries' capacities for economic development and non-Westerners who worry that it has corrosive effects on traditional societies). This is a good historical survey of the idea from the end of World War II through the early 1980s.

For anyone with some familiarity with contemporary development literature, what is striking is what is missing. There is no discussion of the impact of the monetarist or Austrian schools on economic development. While not many of these economists focused on economic development, their work was influential in changing the decision-making emphases of policymakers in the 1980s and 1990s. The return to largely neoliberal approaches in development aid by the World Bank and individual countries has been quite controversial in the economic and public policy literatures, but is not addressed here. As a previous reviewer noted there is scant discussion of the "Asian tigers" model of economic development. Perhaps, these omissions are due to its publication date of 1987. This work begs for a revised edition.

Basically, this is a good starting point especially for those interested in policy and political economy. However, you also need to turn elsewhere to understand developments of the last 20 years. (BTW for those who like to write in the margins, this work has half-inch outer ones.)

Rating:
Summary: excellent overview using "history of ideas" approach
Review: If you are looking for a description of the genesis of the idea of economic development--more accurately, "development"--I think you will find in Arndt the scope, concision, depth, expertise, and sophistication necessary for an educated introduction to this topic.

In the introductory chapter, Arndt offers a concise summary of the intellectual rivulets contributing to the modern understanding of development: "Higher living standards. A rising per capita income. Increase in productive capacity. Mastery over nature. Freedom through control of man's environment. Economic growth. But not mere growth, growth with equity. Elimination of poverty. Basic needs satisfaction. Catching up with the developed countries in technology, wealth, power, status. Economic independence, self-reliance. Scope for self-fulfillment for all. Liberation, the means to human ascent. Development, in the vast literature on the subject, appears to have come to encompass almost all facets of the good society, everyman's road to utopia" (p. 1).

With expert facility, he traces the inception of the idea of economic development as a conscious abstraction guiding the emergent European nation-states of the seventeenth century, its dramatic growth in international importance post-World War II, and its most recent variations in leftist revisionism and rightist reactions. Using the "history of ideas" approach, he locates the origin, expansion, rejection, and modification of the idea of development in the explicit statements of key individuals in various historical contexts who more or less take up where have other important figures have left off. Deriving from the study of the humanities, the "history of ideas" approach is a richly instructive means of constructing cultural history.

In the last chapter, Arndt acknowledges that the interpretation of development has been so diverse that "one sometimes wonders whether it stands for anything more substantial than everyone's own utopia" (p. 165). Although he concedes that "the word seems to have all but lost any specific meaning," he argues that this judgment misinterprets because "development still means something, as evidenced by the fact that some are against it." Certainly, the nuances of this widely embracing idea are considerably fleshed out by the end of the book, to the well-deserved credit of the author.

Some personal notes. I found it especially interesting that the papal social encyclicals drop into the same category as Mahatma Gandhi and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as rightist reactions to Western models of development. I might add that despite repugnance of the West toward Khomeini, his ideas and their Islamic context are worthy of serious inspection. Last point: I thought that given the success of authoritarian export-oriented models of development, achieved in countries like Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea, the contribution of East Asia to the dialogue on development, such as Lee Kuan Yew's espousal of "Asian Values" or Deng Xiaoping's vision of "Pragmatic Socialism"--is it really market capitalism managed by an authoritarian government professing socialism?--would have secured substantive coverage in the book.

Arndt's survey will bring you up-to-date on the idea of development, but in order to gain a genuinely deep understanding, it is probably necessary to read other books, for which Arndt's publication provides ample references.