Empirical Development Economics - Routledge Advanced Texts in Economics and Finance 1º edição

Understanding why so many people across the world are so poor is one of the central intellectual challenges of our time. What explains a pattern of extreme destitution for billions combined with plutocratic levels of income for a tiny minority? This book offers a novel approach to addressing these areas by providing the tools and data that will enable students, researchers and professionals to investigate these issues.

Empirical Development Economics has been designed as a hands-on teaching tool to investigate the causes of poverty. The book begins by introducing the basics of the quantitative approach to development economics. All topics are presented through data that addresses some important policy issue. Part One focuses on the basics of understanding why incomes differ so much and also explores the role of education, technology and institutions in determining income levels. In Part Two the focus is on techniques to assess how firms invest, how households decide how much to spend on their children?s education, whether microfinance helps the poor, whether food aid works, who gets private schooling and whether property rights enhance investment.

A distinctive feature of the book is its presentation of a range of approaches to studying development questions. Development economics has undergone a major change in focus over the last decade with the rise of experimental methods to address development issues, and this book demonstrates how these methods relate to more traditional ones.