On the Search for Well-Being

Preface

Preface In this book I discuss those issues about development economics that I have found of particular interest, and that I believe to be of great importance in understanding why some nations are rich and others poor. I wish to emphasize that I do not seek to cover all aspects of this area of inquiry, nor have I sought to make a thorough literature review. Neither do I seek to cover all sides of the issues that I do address. It is genuinely a discussion of topics that I have worried with for some time in a way that I found helpful, and that are, for me, just plain exciting to study. Why some nations are rich and others poor is, of course, one of the profound questions of our time, on a par, I would claim, with the physicist's great question, why is there a universe. It raises many theoretical issues that cut across numerous disciplinary boundaries, it has political implications that cover an exceedingly wide area, and it creates many policy matters with which decision makers must wrestle. On the real bottom line however, it is a great moral issue. A world in which some people have so much while millions of others spend most of their life starving is a world which few would defend. I trust that the discussion in this book-limited though it is-may add a bit to the understanding of this great question. The world is messy. It has been said by many that the only theorem in economics is that there are no theorems in economics. In addition to messiness , there is great ignorance at every tum. Still the economics profession continues to like rigor and elegant models which usually require "perfect knowledge" of some kind or other. I do not object to elegance and rigor, but I push the idea, as strongly as I can, that the world is messy and ignorance is ubiquitous. Economists must, I suggest, seek to capture this messiness and ignorance in theories and arguments if we are to illuminate great questions. I have tried to illuminate, to the extent that I can, and accept the necessary messiness. And I recognize ignorance at every step in the argument. I acknowledge that I may well be unnecessarily messy and inelegant, but if that helps with illumination, it is a small price to pay. I put considerable store on my "vision." This rather potent word, maybe even pretentious word, is meant to distinguish between the details of my various arguments and the basic approach within which these arguments fall. I x Preface try to establish a way of thinking about the great question, and then I explore, examine, probe, and worry my way through a range of specific issues. This, I think, is a fruitful way to think about development. I hope that the reader finds it so. lt was noted above that the present effort is not to be looked upon as a review of literature. This should not be interpreted as meaning that I have not read. I have been reading development economics since President Harry S. Truman announced the United States foreign aid program in 1949. I have tried hard to indicate my debt to specific authors in those cases where I borrowed directly an idea or argument or data. More importantly, I am in debt to the great (and always rising) flow of books and articles for insights and observations and hints and models and histories and numerous other things that have been so crucial in the shaping of my thinking. My more precise debt is to my colleagues in the Williams College economics department where I have taught and studied for more than three decades. Those who came and stayed for a long period and those who stayed only a few years have helped me enormously. Innumerable lunches, department seminars, office conversations, casual meetings in front of the mailboxes , and so on, have all taught me much. I have tried out much of what is here on my colleagues in one way or another. Much of what is helpful in this book is due to them, but none of the mistakes and weaknesses. The latter are all mine. I note this last not to be modest or perfunctory, but simply because it is true. I am also grateful to the University of Michigan's Press's referees. Their suggestions, queries, doubts, were exceptionally helpful and led me to modify and rethink a...