I bought this book on the recommendation of a colleague who teaches development economics and uses the book himself. I am an economist by training, my background is on macroeconomics and international economic relations, and hence there was much that i recognized. One reason I wanted to learn more on development economics is that I am currently involved in work on EU Candidate Countries and economic transition issues. Although these countries are clearly not in the same category as less developed countries (although that phrase has become increasingly meaningless in itself as it covers so many very different countries), I think there could be fruitful cross-fertilization from reading a book on development economics. Certainly there would seem to be a number of issues where the candidate countries share some common ground at least, or where useful lessons could be learned from development economics (institution and capacity building and macroeconomic stabilization, for instance). The discussion on how development economics is different from other disciplines in economics (notably macro-economics) or adds value to it is of course as old as development economics itself. I found this book very useful as a broad and balanced introducion, and even though it sometimes covered familiar ground I think it often did so with a specific slant on LDCs that did add value for me, as did discussion of subjects not usually found in most economics books on social issues such as the role of women. I liked the listings of positive and negative arguments on a number of issues such as what has been achieved incpoverty reduction. I also liked the broad collection of seminal articles that you are unlikely to find elsewhere.
I found the articles and empirical research quoted not always of very recent date, and especially the latter bothered me. In several instances the texts quoted empirical findings from studies dating from the 70s or so. I do not find that very convincing; have there really been no more recent findings for the last 25 years? Also the lay-out of the text was not always very clear or attractive to the eye, and I think there is definite room for improvement there as well.
That said, this is still excellent value for money, and the book is certainly well worth to read for anybody interested in a good introduction on development economics.
