Economics of devlopment and distribution / by William Loehr and John P. Powelson

This book is addressed to students (in the broad sense of the word) who, Th having mastered basic principles of economics, wish to understand how a society lifts itself from penury to affluence, how equitable distributions of income and wealth are defined, and how they come about. These students might be upper-level undergraduates, graduates, professors, or professional economists. Since students rapidly become professionals, and some professionals are (like us) perennial students, the distinctions among them become blurred.

We define development as sustained material well-being, which can occur only with distributions tending toward equality. The study of development includes how institutions and relationships to sustain development are formed and nurtured, and how they sometimes erode for lack of care. We identify units of development, which are not always nation-states. Sometimes they are groups within states, sometimes groupings of states. The comparative development of subnational units implies a study of income distribution.

Some students may wish no more than to understand the process of devel opment. It is to these students that this book is addressed. Others may also wish to become practitioners, such as foreign-aid administrators, economic advisers to governments, or part of the staff of development ministries or in ternational lending agencies. Since we question whether the goals of practi tioners are always compatible with maximum development, we consider them to be a subject of inquiry rather than a learning target. This is not a how-to-do it book, but a why-did-it-or-did-it-not-happen book.