The Political Economy of Poverty, Equity and Growth: A Comparative Study

This wide-ranging book synthesises the findings of specially commissioned analytical economic histories of 21 developing countries from 1950 to 1985. It represents an ambitious interdisciplinary attempt to identify patterns in the interplay of initial conditions, institutions, interests, and ideas which can help explain the different growth and poverty alleviation outcomes in the Third World. The authors establish clear and innovative frameworks for comparative study, and marshall evidence to argue for the continuing relevance of the classical liberal viewpoint on public policies for development, and to show why, even so, nationalist ideologies are likely to be adopted and lead to cycles of interventionism and liberalism.