5 comments about Economic Development (10th Edition) (Addison-Wesley Series in Economics).

1. The greatest problem facing economists today (I should say "facing the world today") is how to create wealth in the poorest countries of the world. This introduction to the subject is accessible to any reader, even those with very limited previous knowledge of economics. The book begins with a critical summary of current development theories and then takes on a number of policy questions, with case studies. Each chapter ends with discussion questions and the publisher maintains a web site with useful quantitative and graphing exercises (with answers).

   Michael Todaro writes from a left-of-center perspective and is more ideological than most textbook writers. However, he presents other points of view and presents them pretty fairly in my opinion. And I have to say that he scores some pretty big points against the neoclassical theorists by showing that their assumptions are frequently at odds with reality.

   While some of Todaro's more stridently ideological statements can be annoying, I know of no other book that provides such a comprehensive, well organized, and engagingly written introduction to economic development.




2. Todaro and Smith cover the major issues and influences of poverty in the third world, as we know it today.

   With development having many different meanings and underdevelopment been a concept that many theories, especially economic ones, ignore, this book is exceptional in its analysis of the third world and the need for development, both economically and socially; the role of women and children in poverty is raised and discussed, as the important issue that it is, .... and more than often is ignored AND possible solutions to underdevelopment are suggested.

   Additionally, much emphasis is placed on specific country examples, which are extremely interesting and useful from a study point of view, and Todaro and Smith further the cause for underdevelopment issues with their key characteristics of development.

   An excellent resource for students, or anyone else, interested in development issues ..... 5+++.




3. While Michael Todaro's text is widely used, as another reviewer points out, it is as much political "science" and sociology as economics. I am an economics professor and I have taught Economic Development courses from this text and had to repeatedly bring the perspective of neo-classical economics which was lacking or misconstrued. This text is closer to neo-Marxist than neo-classical.

   If you wish to gain the insights of economics, I would recommend "The Elusive Quest for Growth : Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics" by William Easterly.




4. I was horrified to see how much this book cost when I started my Development Economics course. Now I'm very glad I bought it.
   
   The writing is very good: it's dense, clear, and accurate. It clearly presents the economic models of the most referenced development economists. It places them in context and critiques them.
   
   I was so pleased with this book (and the subject) that I went on to pursue an MA with a focus on development economics. Textbooks that can change your life are few--this ranks among them.



5. This book talks about many issues on economic development, and it also includes alternative approaches. You do not have to be a economics major to understand that book.

2 comments about Capitalism Without Democracy: The Private Sector in Contemporary China.

1. this book is a must read and goes in-depth into the emerging underground economy in China. I also recommend the first book Back-Alley banking by the same author.



2. The book refutes the prevailing modernization theory that capitalism can lead to democracy. Findings from the study of private entrepreneurs in different regions in China supports Professor Tsai's proposition that the relationship between economic liberalism and political freedom is not definitely correlated.
   
   Putting it in a nutshell, this book has contributed to three major findings in the study of political economy in China. First, economic liberalization in China since 1976 has not resulted in the emergence of democratic regime or the decline of the authoritarian state. According to Professor Tsai, private entrepreneurs in China are not nuts about democracy and researchers cannot view private entrepreneurs as a homogeneous class because of their diverse identities, interests, and values in politics. Second, widespread apathy amongst private entrepreneurs in China towards democracy does not mean that they have an acquiescent nature. They tend to adopt different coping strategies rather than instigate virulent opposition against the regime or demand regime transition when various formal institutions constrain their business activities. The so-called "coping strategies" result in a variety of "adaptive informal institutions" being established in different economic regions in China. Based on hundreds of in-depth interviews and nationwide survey of private entrepreneurs, Professor Tsai divides them into five key types; namely Wenzhou model, Sunan model, Zhujiang model, state-dominated model, and Limited development model. For instance, private entrepreneurs in Wenzhou engaged in a variety of innovative financing practices to set up and expand their businesses which were outside of the state banking system. Private entrepreneurs in Guangdong province sought to establish fake foreign enterprises in order to enjoy policy advantages including tax breaks and preferential access to land. Third, the near ubiquity of adaptive informal institutions becomes an endogenous force that has prompted the government to generate institutional change without regime change. However, such institutional change to react to the existence of adaptive informal institutions cannot be likely to become sources of democratization. Professor Tsai maintains that private entrepreneurs in China show no intention of agitating for democracy but capitalism can exist without democracy, provided that the Chinese government can attend to adaptive informal institutions that complement endogenous institutional change.
   
   This book is highly recommended to readers who are interested in political economy and the development of private enterprises in China.

3 comments about African Development: Making Sense of the Issues and Actors.

1. Dr. Moss fills a gap in the literature for an introductory text covering both the politics and economics of Sub-Saharan Africa. The book covers the history of the region since independence, its economic stagnation and the role of local players as well as international trade, aid and finance. It is written in an accessible and engaging style that will appeal not only to those taking introductory courses on Africa, but also anyone interested in learning about development and some of its greatest challenges.



2. I have worked in HIV/AIDS biomedical research and I have recently entered the international development/global health arena. This book is absolutely essential reading to anyone going into this field because one must have a full understanding of the people, organizations, history, and politics at play in African development. Dr. Moss has made an outstanding contribution to improving the welfare of the African continent by educating those of us involved in the effort!!



3. This book sets out to "provide some of the basic information about development in sub-Saharan Africa to smooth the progress of further study." That's exactly what you get: not 'the answers', but an extremely clear, thorough, and sure-handed guide to all the right questions. No better such guide exists. If you're looking for the smart person's entry point, this is it. If you're an experienced researcher or practitioner looking for a framework within which to organize your thoughts, this is it, too.
   
   Moss gives concise biographies of the most important postcolonial 'big men', sharp summaries of some of the key events that have shaped the development process across the continent, and painstakingly even-handed but clear-eyed synopses of the different sides of international debates on aid policy, trade, investment, and others. The text always provokes thought but never condescends. The author is a PhD political scientist who used to write for The Economist newspaper, which should tell you that 1) the writing is crisp and exact, and 2) he knows his economics, but 3) is never 'economistic' and has a firm grasp of the political forces that shape Africa's response to outsiders' development efforts.
   
   To give you the flavor, here are the "ten tips for sensibly studying African development" whose discussion in Chapter One motivates the survey to follow: "1. There are no panaceas and few quick fixes", "2. Don't believe the (good and bad) hype", "3. Resist the temptation to exoticize", "4. Development is always political", "5. Development is more than money", "6. Be careful with 'facts'", "7. Be skeptical of data", "8. Keep perspective on Africa's size", "9. Get to know some specific countries", "10. Go! [to Africa]".

5 comments about Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Systems.

1. This is the only book I know of which provides theoretical framework for sustainable development using integrated management of economic, ecological, and social systems. The theoretical frame work is based on hierarchy and complexity theories.

   You do not want to miss reading and owning it. It belongs in the library of all future oriented executives, economists, ecologists, sociologists, business planners, and policy makers.




2. I weighed into this book on the basis of an article I read about Panarchy. Some of the text is too technical for me (all the chapters are written by academics) so I confess that I skipped some parts. Nonetheless for anyone who is trying to grasp how change happens in our world, this is an outstanding source for understanding the complexities and inter-relatedness of everything.



3. A very interesting read. A well developed theoretical framework for examining contempory 'sustainability' issues (social, physical, cultural and so on). Interesting case studies used.



4. On balance, Resilience and the Behavior of Large-Scale Systems (Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) Series) is the better book but this one is the thicker heavier more math-laden pretender--the problem is they have their own citation cabal, and while the bibliography is much broader and deeper than the above recommended book, there are too many gaps and an excessive reliance on obscure formulas that I have learned over time tend to be smoke for "I don't really know but if I did, this is the formula.
   
   Also published in 2002, also with 20 contributors, this book lost me on the math. As someone who watched political science self-destruct in the 1970's when "comparative statistics" replaced field work, foreign language competency, and actual historical and cultural understanding, and a real-world intelligence professional, I'd listen to these folks, but I would never, ever let them actually manage the totality.
   
   The book is the outcome of a three year effort, the Resilience Network as they called themselves, and there are some definite gems in this book, but it is a rough beginning. Among other things, it tries to model simplicity instead of complexity, and continue to miss the important of true cost transparency as the product and service end-user point of sale level, and real-time science that cannot be manipulated by any one country or organization (Exxon did NOT make $40 billion in profit this year--that is a fraction of the externalized costs, roughly $12 against the future for every $3 paid at the pump--that level of public intelligence in the public interest in missing from this book).
   
   Page 7, "Observation: In every example of crisis and regional development we have studied, both the natural system and the economic components can be explained by a small set of variables and critical processes." This rang all of my alarm bells. If I did not have total respect for what the authors and funders are trying to do, that sentence alone would have put this book firmly into my idiocy pile.
   
   I just do not see in this book the kind of understanding of the ten high-level threats to humanity interaction with one another, such as can be seen free online or bought via Amazon, A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility--Report of the Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, nor do these distinguished practitioners of their own little "club" see the strategic coherence of identifying ten core policies from Agriculture to Water that must be harmonized at every budget level, nor the irrelevance of anything we do unless we can persuade the ten demographic challengers with an EarthGame online that delivers real-time science and near-real-time cost-benefit analysis.
   
   I find several of the authors to be a bit too cavalier in their dismissal of the contributions of economists, ecologists, and others.
   
   Theories of change and next cycles are useful. Concepts of cascading change and collapsing panarchies are good. Log number of people in Figure 4.1 is very good.
   
   In discussing adaptive response to change these learned scholars appear to have no clue of what is possible in delivering neighborhood level granularity of data for online social deliberation and models for gaming. There are early light references to deliberative democracy, but right now these folks have models in search of data in search of players. I did like the discussion of the larger model for levels of discourse, but WikiCalc and EarthGame are a decade ahead of this book's contents (which I hasten to add, was started in 1998 and published in 2002).
   
   Table 11-1 on page 310 was so useful I list its row descriptors here, Factors and Adaptation and Possible Effect on Resilience (the latter not replicated here.
   
   Factors:
   Biota
   Diversity-spacial
   Diversity-production strategies
   Energy sources
   External resources
   Mental models
   Population structure
   Savings
   Scale
   Technology
   
   This is no where near the 10-12-8 model at Earth Intelligence Network, but I see real value here, and the need for a cross-fertilization. The fatal flaw in this book is that they confuse the failure of expertise with the failure of democracy--if we can achieve electoral reform and eliminate the corruption inherent in most governments, and certainly that of the US government which is broken and "running on empty" while every incumbent sells their constituents out to their party or special interests, it would be possible to connect data, change detection, alternative scenario depiction, and deliberative democracy at the zip code level.
   
   Gilberto Gallopin, Planning for Resilience, is alone worth the price of the book, in combination with above and the closing summary, which is also a real value. My final note: too much gobbly-gook (to which I would add, "and no clue how intelligence-policy-budget connections are made and broken.
   
   The key to eradicating the ten high level threats to humanity, among which environmental degradation is number three after poverty and infectious disease, is not better science--it is better democracy, participatory democracy, combined with moral capitalism. Below are a few titles to help make this point.
   
   These 20 contributors are all part of a future solution, but they cannot be allowed to drive the bus.
   
   See also (apart from my many lists):
   Running On Empty: How The Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It
   Breach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders into Insiders
   Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency
   The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism
   Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage
   The Philosophy of Sustainable Design
   The New Craft of Intelligence: Personal, Public, & Political--Citizen's Action Handbook for Fighting Terrorism, Genocide, Disease, Toxic Bombs, & Corruption
   Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace



5. While the book reviews interesting insights about the stability of ecosystems and emphasizes that most preconceptions are invalid in one or another circumstance, it pushes a preconception of its own that is so abstract as to be nearly meaningless. Phenomena are forced into phases of a model even when the fit is unreasonable. The book reads as though the editors fell in love with a nice idea - and a pretty diagram - and proceeded to ignore subtleties and refinements that, if incorporated, could have had real value. One significant flaw is that the wasteland of a devastated ecosystem, such as an overgrazed scrubland, is conceived as the 'same' ecosystem as the mature one (rainforest) that preceded it, and that a 'cycle' will bring it back around - and this in contradiction to the book's own opening chapter. Some redemption is achieved by authors of later chapters, who do not fall into these traps.

2 comments about Just and Lasting Change: When Communities Own Their Futures.

1. The poor communities of the world are, unfortunately, a laboratory for many thousands of mostly failed experiments in how to improve their situation. This important and valuable book builds on decades of practical experience by the authors in the successful, durable transformation of poor communities. The authors' key insights are (1) the necessity for change to be driven by the collaboration of the community, outside experts, and local government; (this may seem obvious, but many projects fail because they treat one of these three groups as an enemy or obstacle rather than a vital element), (2) to have measurable results, (3) to use the power of the community to modify behavior that is an obstacle to success. This book should be read by donors as well as those directly involved in development activities such as community leaders, government officials, and NGO workers.



2. As we watch news reports of the world in chaos and trouble this Book offers not just salve to ease the pain of some of these small communties but also real solution as they being to restore their dignity with justice for all involved.
   The Model SEED/Scale is one that I believe should be studied and applied in some of the rural areas, small towns in this part of Southwest Oklahoma. This method is about a reformation of attitude, self-awareness , and possibilites for growth and change bringing the best healthiest new life possible.
   I think that Churches could apply the model as well as a way to restoring justice and change withn themselves and within the communities they serve. Revitalization is something that churches in rural arears everywhere talk about I believe this model could be applied with success.
   This book should have a broad readership. It could help change the world.
   Rev. Bobbie G. McGarey, Southwest Oklahoma Presbyerian Parish Pastor, Frederick, Temple, Walters, Chattanooga, and Grandfield. Oklahoma.

No comments about The Washington Consensus Reconsidered: Towards a New Global Governance (Initiative for Policy Dialogue).

2 comments about Rule of Experts: Egypt, Techno-Politics, Modernity.

1. Mitchell's "Colonising Egypt" transformed my experience as a student in Egypt, so I was looking forward to this work from one of the best minds in in Middle East Studies. "Rule of Experts: Egypt, Techno-Politics, Modernity" does not disappoint. Mitchell's work is self-reflective, de-orientalized, thought-provoking scholarship. Mitchell not only connects contemporary political and postmodern theory to his Egyptian primary sources, but he extends theory in new directions and unique interdisiplinary ways. Mitchell empowers the reader to think critically about the negative influences of power and hegemonic discourse on policy and scholarship to create distorted representations and self-fulfilling, self-replicating prophecies. We need more writers like Mitchell to question and challenge the current theory and expertise that has so much currency and momentum in the echo chambers of the Washington Consensus.

   The essays cover a wide range of 20th-century topics from malaria to mapmaking, from the manipulated image of the peasant to techno-political nonsense in current development praxis. I have long believed that developmental applications of modern economic theory are very much a "faith-based" process, and Mitchell has put these thoughts in engaging prose. In addition, I was particularly impressed by the chapter on violence, which helped me frame my own thinking on violence, for example, in Syria, Algeria, or Tunisia, places where not so hidden violence functions as an instrument of power and social control. Mitchell writes eloquently on issues that have troubled most of those who work or live or travel in the developing world and who have not found the right language to express their reservations about the descriptive and prescriptive power of current scholarship and techno-political expertise.




2. Timothy Mitchell writes consistently on the Middle East in ways that challenge the presupposition of field. This book is a collection and revision of many studies previously published, but they are integrated into a whole to provide insights into new ways to consider. The conclusions thereof are wide-ranging, highlighting the falsification and fallacies of behind the reasoned application of universalized logics capital and techno-politics to Egyptian particularities.

   Mitchell's most powerful and provocative insights occur in his essays on the history of peasant politics in instances of malaria epidemics, colonial agricultural policies, and violence and the establishment of private property and land 'reforms'. This work likely can bring its insights to bear are on any research currently being done on the Middle East.

1 comments about Participatory Workshops: A Sourcebook of 21 Sets of Ideas and Activities.

1. I have taught facilitation for 20 years and maintain an extended bibliography of available books. If someone said they can buy only one book as a resource in facilitating, I would recommend this one. It is a remarkable collection of exercises, tools, strategies, and tips.

1 comments about Uneven Development: Nature, Capital, and the Production of Space.

1. I think that it is a great book, for all those geographers or of other diciplines interested in the space aspects, the ones that are in this book in a very good fundamental argument about the development of the term space production and the factors that influence in the unequal production in a capitalist system

2 comments about Pasteurs Quadrant: Basic Science and Technological Innovation.

1. This book is not about antiscientism, it is about accountibality of science funding. There are several economical myths related to the state policy of basic science funding. Two of them : "..basic research is performed without thought of practical ends" and "...basic research is the pacemaker of technological progress" as well as famous Baconian "linear model",( a sequence extending from basic science to technology: basic science - applied research - development - production and operations) are dramatically reevaluated and critizied in the reviewing book. The most important implications of agruments presented in this well written book are: a) Basic science must be accountable as any other state funding activities and based on "informed judgments of research promise and social need"; b) Progress of science and technology have "semiautonomous trajectories", therefore state investment in basic research does not provide progress in the technology and economical growth. It looks like it is a good time "to end" so-called "endless frontiers" of unaccountable spending of taxpayer's money for funding useless basic science research. Everybody who is interested in the basic science funding policy must read this excellent book. It demonstrates a difference between the economical reality and propaganda of illusions.



2. This book provides a wonderful brief history of the transition in the USA between the end of World War II and the beginning of the USA-USSR Cold war in terms of national policy for supporting scientific research. Professor Stokes masterfully leads the reader through an elegant train of thought that provides a paradigm for simultaneously addressing "basic" and "applied" research without the oft seen excess baggage of which is "real" research.
   I have used the paradigm and exceprts from this book in numerous seminars in the U.S. and other countries when presenting seminars to graduate students and undergraduates. Many of today's students want to conduct research that makes a difference for pressing societal needs but also do not wish to be subjected to the criticism of not being enough of an "academic researcher" when conducting their thesis research. This book and the explained paradigm provide the framework for guidance for these students and their advisors/mentors. I highly recommend it and have given away nuemrous copies to colleagues wordlwide.