'Professor Szirmai's fully revised edition of Socio-Economic Development is a tour de force. Grounded in economic history, it elegantly combines and integrates the modern development economics literature, careful empirical analysis, and illuminating country studies. Any serious student of long-run economic development, from the first-timer to those with decades of immersion in the subject, will want to have a copy of this encyclopedic yet accessible volume.' Hal Hill, H. W. Arndt Professor of Southeast Asian Economies, Australian National University