HKS Authors

See citation below for complete author information.

Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy

Abstract

What Works in Development? brings together leading experts to address one of the most basic yet vexing issues in development: what do we really know about what works -- and what doesn't -- in fighting global poverty? The contributors, including many of the world's most respected economic development analysts, focus on the ongoing debate over which paths to development truly maximize results. Should we emphasize a big-picture approach -- focusing on the role of institutions, macroeconomic policies, growth strategies, and other country-level factors? Or is a more grassroots approach the way to go, with the focus on particular microeconomic interventions such as conditional cash transfers, bed nets, and other microlevel improvements in service delivery on the ground? The book attempts to find a consensus on which approach is likely to be more effective.

Citation

Rodrik, Dani. The New Development Economics: We Shall Experiment, but How Shall We Learn? What Works in Development? Thinking Big and Thinking Small. Ed. William Easterly and Jessica Cohen. Brookings Institution Press, 2009, 24-48.