Book Review

From Malcolm Warner,

Understanding development economics its challenge to development studies, Adam Fforde, London and New York, NY: Routledge, 2013, Paperback: £37.99. ISBN 978-0-415-86982-9, 354pp.

In order to understand the ever-changing global economy, we need to have a better grasp of the processes of development. The BRICS for example have been leading the field for some years and the PRC is still growing, if a little weaker than earlier. The book under review, Understanding Development Economics, is by an academic expert and consultant in the field, Dr. Adam Fforde, who is a part-time professorial fellow at the Centre for Strategic Economic Studies, at Victoria University, and he holds an honorary position at the Asia Institute of the University of Melbourne, Australia. He is a well-known figure in S E Asian development studies and has written many books.

The book has many merits as a work on economic development. It is interdisciplinary and links together many strands of thought, bringing in a good deal from the human systems approach. It looks at the claims made by ‘Development Economics’ as a university subject to be a scientific, ‘quant’ discipline with a wide usage of mathematical modelling, and the more contentious, ‘practice-based’ view favoured by the more discursive ‘Development Studies’. The chapters include a wide range of topic and disciplines. This approach enriches the debate and is thought-provoking.

The book is well-written and produced, in 22 chapters, with a paperback edition to boot! It is a recommended read for many classes of readers, including undergraduates, postgraduates and academics with an interest in international development. The publisher has been prescient in seeing the need for such a book and we hope it will get a wide distribution.