Books like Poor Economics by Abhijit Banerjee

Amartya Sen’s 1999 book analyzes international development as a process of expanding human freedom.

The world's most exciting, fastest-growing new market?It's where you least expect it: at the bottom of the pyramid. Collectively, the world's billions of poor people have immense entrepreneurial capabilities and buying power. You can learn how to serve them and help millions of the world's poorest people escape poverty.It is being done—profitably. Whether you're a business leader or an anti-poverty activist, business guru Prahalad shows why you can't afford to ignore "Bottom of the Pyramid" (BOP) markets.In the book and accompanying CD videos, Prahalad presents...Why what you know about BOP markets is wrong A world of surprises—from spending patterns to distribution and marketingUnlocking the "poverty penalty"The most enduring contributions your company can make Delivering dignity, empowerment, and choice—not just productsCorporations and BOP entrepreneurs Profiting together from an inclusive new capitalism

Debraj Ray, one of the most accomplished theorists in development economics today, presents in this book a synthesis of recent and older literature in the field and raises important questions that will help to set the agenda for future research. He covers such vital subjects as theories of economic growth, economic inequality, poverty and undernutrition, population growth, trade policy, and the markets for land, labor, and credit. The book takes the position that there is no single cause for economic progress, but that a combination of factors - among them the improvement of physical and human capital, the reduction of inequality, and institutions that enable the background flow of information essential to market performance - consistently favor development. Ray supports his arguments throughout with examples from around the world. The book assumes a knowledge of only introductory economics and explains sophisticated concepts in simple, direct language, keeping the use of mathematics to a minimum.

From one of the world's best-known development economists—an excoriating attack on the tragic hubris of the West's efforts to improve the lot of the so-called developing worldIn his previous book, The Elusive Quest for Growth, William Easterly criticized the utter ineffectiveness of Western organizations to mitigate global poverty, and he was promptly fired by his then-employer, the World Bank. The White Man's Burden is his widely anticipated counterpunch—a brilliant and blistering indictment of the West's economic policies for the world's poor. Sometimes angry, sometimes irreverent, but always clear-eyed and rigorous, Easterly argues that we in the West need to face our own history of ineptitude and draw the proper conclusions, especially at a time when the question of our ability to transplant Western institutions has become one of the most pressing issues we face.

A synthesis of Gunnar Myrdal’s 1969 lectures on global poverty, extending his earlier work on Asian development.

Hunger and Public Action examines how government policy can reduce hunger and improve food security, offering case studies and practical recommendations for economists, social scientists, and policymakers.