Andy Sumner

Development and Its Discontents is a critical examination of development studies' history and what it has become, and what it might yet be. It argues that the field is increasingly differentiated along competing modes of thought, worldviews, and claims to knowledge, bringing long-running debates about the study of development back into sharp focus. Drawing on cross-disciplinary thinking on development, from the rise of classical development economics and the anti-colonial momentum of the Bandung era to contemporary decolonial critiques, the book maps the intellectual currents that have shaped development studies and the tensions and debates that now structure it. The result is a framework for recognising the field's internal pluralism and for taking interdisciplinarity more seriously, without pretending that its disagreements are merely semantic. For scholars and students, Development and Its Discontents offers a guide to the intellectual architecture of development studies, its contested boundaries, and the questions now shaping its future.

In the Global South economic mobility across generations or intergenerational economic mobility is in and of itself an important topic for research with consequences for policy. It concerns the 'stickiness' or otherwise of inequality because mobility is concerned with the extent to which children's economic outcomes are dependent on their parents' economic outcomes. Scholars have estimated levels of intergenerational mobility in many developed countries. Fewer estimates are available for developing countries, where mobility matters more due to starker differences in living standards. This Element surveys the area, conceptually and empirically; it presents a new estimate for a developing country, namely Indonesia; it discusses the 'Great Gatsby Curve' and highlights the different positions of developed and developing countries. Finally, it presents a theoretical framework to explain the drivers of mobility and the stickiness or otherwise of inequality across time. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

The term rust belt has rarely been associated with developing countries. In fact, it is commonly used to discuss deindustrialization in advanced nations, particularly the US. However, this book argues that such a belt is now threatening the middle-income developing world, spreading across Brazil and other countries in Latin America, running down across South Africa, and then upwards to Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines in South East Asia. Deindustrialization, Distribution, and Development: Structural Change in the Global South explores the emergent processes of stalled industrialization and the spectre of deindustrialization in these developing countries. Building upon the author's previous work on economic development, structural change, and income inequality, this book examines the causes and consequences of these new issues, focusing on inequality both between and within countries since the Cold War. Providing a comparative, in-depth analysis of the varieties of contemporary structural change in the Global South and challenging many long-standing myths, this work explains why late development remains a crucial concept in understanding contemporary development and explores what deindustrialization means for the future of global development.

This open access book examines the future of inequality, work and wages in the age of automation with a focus on developing countries. The authors argue that the rise of a global 'robot reserve army' has profound effects on labor markets and economic development, but, rather than causing mass unemployment, new technologies are more likely to lead to stagnant wages and premature deindustrialization. The book illuminates the debate on the impact of automation upon economic development, in particular issues of poverty, inequality and work. It highlights public policy responses and strategies-ranging from containment to coping mechanisms-to confront the effects of automation. This work was published by Saint Philip Street Press pursuant to a Creative Commons license permitting commercial use. All rights not granted by the work's license are retained by the author or authors.

This open access book examines the future of inequality, work and wages in the age of automation with a focus on developing countries. The authors argue that the rise of a global 'robot reserve army' has profound effects on labor markets and economic development, but, rather than causing mass unemployment, new technologies are more likely to lead to stagnant wages and premature deindustrialization. The book illuminates the debate on the impact of automation upon economic development, in particular issues of poverty, inequality and work. It highlights public policy responses and strategies-ranging from containment to coping mechanisms-to confront the effects of automation. This work was published by Saint Philip Street Press pursuant to a Creative Commons license permitting commercial use. All rights not granted by the work's license are retained by the author or authors.

This open access book examines the future of inequality, work and wages in the age of automation with a focus on developing countries. The authors argue that the rise of a global ‘robot reserve army’ has profound effects on labor markets and economic development, but, rather than causing mass unemployment, new technologies are more likely to lead to stagnant wages and premature deindustrialization. The book illuminates the debate on the impact of automation upon economic development, in particular issues of poverty, inequality and work. It highlights public policy responses and strategies–ranging from containment to coping mechanisms—to confront the effects of automation.

In this book Edward and Sumner argue that to better understand the impact of global growth on poverty it is necessary to consider what happens across a wide range of poverty lines. Starting with the same datasets used to produce official estimates of global poverty, they create a model of global consumption that spans the entire world’s population. They go on to demonstrate how their model can be utilised to understand how different poverty lines imply very different visions of how the global economy needs to work in order for poverty to be eradicated.

Since the Second World War, surprisingly few developing countries have experienced a truly sustained episode of economic and social convergence towards the structural characteristics of the advanced nations. East Asia has exceeded most regions in its achievement of convergence, and much has been written on comparative industrialization and development in North East Asia. Less discussed is South East Asia and the surprising and inclusive transformation several of its countries has undergone. Development and Distribution focuses on South East Asia and, more specifically, on Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. These three nations have all undergone a major transformation - in a way never anticipated - from being poor, agrarian countries to middle-income countries with developed industrial and manufacturing bases. How did Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand achieve such a transformation, and how did they achieve the transformation with a form of economic growth that was driven by structural transformation, but that was 'inclusive'? Given that historically it has been thought that structural transformation tends to push up inequality, whilst inclusive growth necessitates static or even falling inequality, this last point is particularly salient to developing countries. Understanding how the transformation was possible in a relatively small space of time, the extent to which it was inclusive, and the caveats and prospects for South East Asia is thus an area of enquiry significant to all developing countries as they seek economic and social transformation.

Why are some people poor? Why does absolute poverty persist despite substantial economic growth? What types of late economic development or 'catch-up' capitalism are associated with different poverty outcomes? Global Poverty addresses these apparently simple questions and the extent to which the answers may be shifting. One might expect global poverty to be focused in the world's poorest countries, usually defined as low-income countries, or least developed countries, or 'fragile states'. However, most of the world's absolute poor by monetary or multi-dimensional poverty - up to a billion people - live in growing and largely stable middle-income countries. At the same time, poverty has not fallen as much as the substantial economic growth would warrant. As a consequence, and as domestic resources have grown, much of global poverty has become less about a lack of domestic resources and more about questions of national inequality, social policy and welfare regimes, and patterns of economic development pursued.

The authors discuss the impact of foreign aid and tackle the question of why assessing the impact of aid is so difficult. The authors focus on peer-reviewed, cross-country studies published over the last decade and draw together some global-level assessments, considering the context and conditions under which aid might be said to ‘work’. Glennie and Sumner argue that the evidence in four areas shows signs of convergence that may have direct relevance for policy decisions on aid and for aid effectiveness discussions. These are as follows: Aid levels (meaning if aid is too low or too high); Domestic political institutions (including political stability and extent of decentralisation); Aid composition (including sectors, modalities, objectives and time horizons); and Aid volatility and fragmentation. Notably, this study finds that there is no consensus that the effectiveness of aid depends on orthodox economic policies.

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. This book is about the opportunities and challenges involved in mainstreaming knowledge about children in international development policy and practice. It focuses on the ideas, networks and institutions that shape the development of evidence about child poverty and wellbeing, and the use of such evidence in development policy debates. It also pays particular attention to the importance of power relations in influencing the extent to which children's voices are heard and acted upon by international development actors. The book weaves together theory, mixed method approaches and case studies spanning a number of policy sectors and diverse developing country contexts in Africa, Asia and Latin America. It therefore provides a useful introduction for students and development professionals who are new to debates on children, knowledge and development, whilst at the same time offering scholars in the field new methodological and empirical insights.

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. This book is about the opportunities and challenges involved in mainstreaming knowledge about children in international development policy and practice. It focuses on the ideas, networks and institutions that shape the development of evidence about child poverty and wellbeing, and the use of such evidence in development policy debates. It also pays particular attention to the importance of power relations in influencing the extent to which children's voices are heard and acted upon by international development actors. The book weaves together theory, mixed method approaches and case studies spanning a number of policy sectors and diverse developing country contexts in Africa, Asia and Latin America. It therefore provides a useful introduction for students and development professionals who are new to debates on children, knowledge and development, whilst at the same time offering scholars in the field new methodological and empirical insights.

Development studies textbooks and courses have sometimes tended to avoid significant economic content. However, without an understanding of the economic aspects of international development many of the more complex issues cannot be fully comprehended. Economics and Development Studies makes the economic dimension of discourse around controversial issues in international development accessible to second and third year undergraduate students working towards degrees in development studies.Following an introductory chapter outlining the connections between development economics and development studies, this book consists of eight substantive chapters dealing with the nature of development economics, economic growth and structural change, economic growth and developing countries, economic growth and economic development since 1960, the global economy and the Third World, developing countries and international trade, economics and development policy, and poverty, equality and development economists, with a tenth concluding chapter.This book synthesizes existing development economics literature in order to identify the salient issues and controversies and make them accessible and understandable. The concern is to distinguish differences within the economics profession, and between economists and non-economists, so that the reader can make informed judgments about the sources of these differences, and about their impact on policy analysis and policy advice. The book features explanatory text boxes, tables and diagrams, suggestions for further reading, and a listing of the economic concepts used in the chapters.

Development studies textbooks and courses have sometimes tended to avoid significant economic content. However, without an understanding of the economic aspects of international development many of the more complex issues cannot be fully comprehended. Economics and Development Studies makes the economic dimension of discourse around controversial issues in international development accessible to second and third year undergraduate students working towards degrees in development studies.Following an introductory chapter outlining the connections between development economics and development studies, this book consists of eight substantive chapters dealing with the nature of development economics, economic growth and structural change, economic growth and developing countries, economic growth and economic development since 1960, the global economy and the Third World, developing countries and international trade, economics and development policy, and poverty, equality and development economists, with a tenth concluding chapter.This book synthesizes existing development economics literature in order to identify the salient issues and controversies and make them accessible and understandable. The concern is to distinguish differences within the economics profession, and between economists and non-economists, so that the reader can make informed judgments about the sources of these differences, and about their impact on policy analysis and policy advice. The book features explanatory text boxes, tables and diagrams, suggestions for further reading, and a listing of the economic concepts used in the chapters.