An Inquiry into Well-Being and Destitution

Partha Dasgupta is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, Fellow of the British Academy, Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. His previous books include; Economic Analysis of Markets and Games; Issues in Contemporary Economics, vol. 3; Economic Organizations as Games (with K.G. Binmore) and The Control of Resources

• PART I WELL-BEING: THEORY AND REALISATION ; PART II ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES AMONG HOUSEHOLDS: THE STANDARD THEORY ; PART III THE HOUSEHOLD AND ITS SETTING: EXTENSIONS OF STANDARD THEORY ; PART IV UNDERNOURISHMENT AND DESTITUTION ; REFERENCES ; AUTHOR AND SUBJECT INDEXES

Dasgupta has produced a tour de force, a book which is a model of good economics. He has addressed a set of questions which are of central importance, questions for which we really do care what the answers are. To answer these questions he has marshalled an array of evidence, empirical studies drawn from a wide range of sources. And he has brought some simple, but deep, theories and ideas to bear on these questions. The book will be a must for every development economist, but its reach should go well beyond that: every economist should be concerned with the questions it raises, and as a model of how good economics should be done, it should be required reading for every graduate student.