Development: A Brief History and Key Concepts
In today’s lecture, we will continue our discussion on how poverty is defined and measured, and connect it to different concepts of ‘development’. We will briefly review the evolution of thinking about development from the post-II World War period to contemporary times, and discuss how the focus has changed from growth and GDP to a more holistic approach, well represented by the Millennium Development Goals.

Required readings
– Thomas, A. 2000. “Meanings and Views of Development” In T. Allen and A. Thomas (Eds) Poverty and Development: Into the 21st Century, pp. 23-48. Oxford University Press.
– Sen, A. 2001. “What is Development About?” In Meier, G. and J. Stiglitz (Eds) Frontiers of Development Economics: The Future in Perspective, 506-513. Oxford University Press.
– Skim: “Can Technology End Poverty” in Boston Review, November-December 2010.

Background readings
– Ziai, A. 2013. “The Discourse of “Development” and Why the Concept Should be Abandoned” Development in Practice, Vol. 23 No. 1.
– Corbridge, S. 2007. “The (Im)possibility of Development Studies.” Economy and Society, Vol. 36 No. 2.
– James, J. 2001. “The Global Information Infrastructure Revisited.” Third World Quarterly Vol. 22 No. 5.

Other resources
UN website for the Millennium Development Goals
World Bank, Voices of the Poor documentary