Poverty in Contemporary Economic Thought Routledge Studies in the History of Economics Series

Poverty in Contemporary Economic Thought aims to describe and critically examine how economic thought deals with poverty, including its causes, consequences, reduction and abolition.

This edited volume traces the ideas of key writers and schools of modern economic thought across a significant period, ranging from Friedrich Hayek and Keynes to latter-day economists like Amartya Sen and Angus Deaton. The chapters relate poverty to income distribution, asserting the point that poverty is not always conceived of in absolute terms but that relative and social deprivation matters also. Furthermore, the contributors deal with both individual poverty and the poverty of nations in the context of the international economy. In providing such a thorough exploration, this book shows that the approach to poverty differs from economist to economist depending on their particular interests and the main issues related to poverty in each epoch, as well as the influence of the intellectual climate that prevailed at the time when the contribution was made.

This key text is valuable reading for advanced students and researchers of the history of economic thought, economic development and the economics of poverty.

Introduction: poverty in contemporary economic thought; 1 Hayek, welfarism, and the deserving poor; 2 Economist and statesman: Keynes on poverty; 3 Poverty and circular, cumulative causation: the views of Gunnar Myrdal; 4 Veblen, North, and the institutional economics on poverty; 5 Sir Arthur Lewis on economic growth and global poverty alleviation; 6 The economics of being poor: the gospel according to Theodore W. Schultz; 7 Why poor countries remain poor: the Latin American dependency school; 8 Poverty and New Welfare Economics; 9 Capability deprivation and poverty: Amartya Sen revisited; 10 Angus Deaton on poverty; 11 Alleviating global poverty: a note on the experimental approach

Mats Lundahl is Professor Emeritus of Development Economics at the Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden.

Daniel Rauhut is Associate Professor at the Karelian Institute at the University of Eastern Finland.

Neelambar Hatti is Professor Emeritus of Economic History at Lund University, Sweden.