The Micro-Economics of Development: Where are we? Where should we go?

These are the questions that Wider invited a group of experts in international economic development to discuss on the occasion of the celebration of its 25th anniversary in Helsinki on May 13-14, 2010. The questions are indeed relevant. Development economics as a discipline that emerged in the post-WWII period had been largely dominated by concerns with growth strategies able to induce a catching up of the developing countries with the per capita incomes of the industrialized countries. Structural transformation away from agriculture and toward industry to create high productivity sources of employment had thus been the main concern, with little attention given to the micro-economics of development. This has changed drastically in the last 25 years. Why did it happen? Four reasons can be identified to answer the first question