Author Description

When Gustav Ranis began his scholarly career in the field of economic development, the global economy presented a landscape of widely contrasting conditions. Almost two-thirds of the global population was ill-fed, ill-housed, illiterate, and lacking access to proper medical care. Today, four decades later, while standards of living have generally improved and some areas of Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East have joined the highly productive economies, the gap between the wealthy few and the rest of the world has widened. In a much-needed effort to assess the current issues facing developing countries and development economics, Ranis's former students, present and past colleagues at Yale, and fellow development economists honor him with this volume. Contributors examine and evaluate four areas of concern: duality and the evolution of labor markets in developing economies; trade, technological transfer, and economic development; the international economic regime and economic development; and finance and economic development.