Distribution and Development

Most of the world''s people live in developing economies as do most of the world''spoor. The predominant means of economic development is economic growth. In this book Gary Fieldsasks to what extent and in what circumstances economic growth improves the material standard ofliving of a country''s people. Most development economists agree that economic growth raises theincomes of people in all parts of the income distribution and lowers the poverty rate. At the sametime some groups lose out because of changes accompanying economic growth. Fields examines thesebeliefs asking what variables should be measured to determine whether progress is being made andwhat policies and circumstances cause some countries to do better than others. He also shows how thesame data can be interpreted to reach different even conflicting conclusions. Using boththeoretical and empirical approaches Fields defines and examines inequality poverty incomemobility and economic well-being. Finally he considers various policies for broad-basedgrowth.Copublished with the Russell Sage Foundation.