What is development economics? The answer will undoubtedly vary widely depending on whom you ask. I’ve said that this blog aims to take a critical approach to development economics, but what does that mean?
Is Development Possible In Capitalism?
By Douglas McDonald [re-blog from NSER]
Last Friday was the Debating Development conference, organized by the titular scholars of INET’s Young Scholars Initiative, a group coordinated by NSSR’s own Ingrid Kvangraven. The conference put many scholars of different regions and different theoretical perspectives in conversation. Although it was titled “debating development,” as NSSR economics professor Sanjay Reddy noted in his opening remarks, most of the perspectives presented were more intersecting than mutually exclusive, so the conference could also be understood as a means to compound or complexify perspectives, rather than adopt or discard them.
Why Isn’t The World Bank’s Choice of Chief Economist More Controversial?
This week it became clear that the World Bank has chosen Paul Romer as its next Chief Economist. As Chief Economist he’ll have the overall responsibility of the Bank’s research program and be able to shape the developments of the highly influential development institution. Commentators have named the choice of Chief Economist impressive, great, huge news, bold, and forward-thinking. The choice of World Bank Chief Economist rarely garners this much attention – so, why the fuss?
Global Development Goals: If at All, Why, When and How?
By Ingrid Harvold Kvangraven
Last week, the “Sustainable Development Goals” (SDGs) were launched at the UN in New York. This is the outcome of two years of consultations, lobbying, and debate about what the “post-2015” agenda should look like. The assumption has been that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were a huge success and that we, therefore, must proceed with a new round. Unfortunately, this assumption is not backed by empirical evidence.
How to Justify Teaching the Worst of Economics to Non-Economists
By Ingrid Harvold Kvangraven
Being an Economics PhD student in a heterodox department gives me the privilege of taking courses in a range of different schools of thought within the discipline. In the Economics department, most of us take the stance that it is imperative to understand the mainstream in order to criticize them effectively. We go to great lengths to learn about the nuances of Neo-classical Economics, general equilibrium theory, and New-Keynesian Economics. Meanwhile, we also have full courses devoted to non-mainstream approaches, such as Post-Keynesian and Marxian Economics. We are aware of the ideological underpinnings of a lot of mainstream theory, and many of us see this as a motivation to challenge the discipline.
William Easterly and The Myths of Development
This blog post from The New School Economic Review was one of the few critical reviews written on Bill Easterly’s book ‘The Tyranny of Experts’. Thus, it ended up being picked up by Al Jazeera and the author debated Easterly on The Stream.
Developing Economics 