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Published:October 1996
Syed Nawab Haider Naqvi. Development Economics: A New
Paradigm. Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad: Oxford University Press, 1993.
The book essentially revolves around a discussion on the implications
and meaning of the word ‘paradigm’ seeking an alternative paradigm for
development economics. It is amply apparent that development economics is
not an academic discipline and its usefulness is on its way out to all intents
and purposes. The author attempts to make a brave effort to rescue it by
highlighting its relevance and importance in the current corpus of economic
theory.
He argues that it is not a minor branch of mainstream economics
but a discipline performing a role that mainstream economics tends to
somewhat neglect.
The author makes a useful and lucid distinction between growth
theory and development economics, stating that the former has essentially
been concerned with esoteric issues and ‘elegant proofs’ of the existence and
stability of steady state growth paths, with no operational content
whatsoever. He quotes Hicks who is said to have once remarked that growth
theory reflected no more than ‘the shadow of the real problems’.
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