Economic Development. Michael P. Todaro, Stephen C. Smith

I was horrified to see how much this book cost when I started my Development Economics course. Now I'm very glad I bought it. The writing is very good: it's dense, clear, and accurate. It clearly presents the economic models of the most referenced development economists. It places them in context and critiques them. I was so pleased with this book (and the subject) that I went on to pursue an MA with a focus on development economics. Textbooks that can change your life are few--this ranks among them.

Todaro and Smith cover the major issues and influences of poverty in the third world, as we know it today. With development having many different meanings and underdevelopment been a concept that many theories, especially economic ones, ignore, this book is exceptional in its analysis of the third world and the need for development, both economically and socially; the role of women and children in poverty is raised and discussed, as the important issue that it is, .... and more than often is ignored AND possible solutions to underdevelopment are suggested. Additionally, much emphasis is placed on specific country examples, which are extremely interesting and useful from a study point of view, and Todaro and Smith further the cause for underdevelopment issues with their key characteristics of development.An excellent resource for students, or anyone else, interested in development issues ..... 5+++.

The greatest problem facing economists today (I should say "facing the world today") is how to create wealth in the poorest countries of the world. This introduction to the subject is accessible to any reader, even those with very limited previous knowledge of economics. The book begins with a critical summary of current development theories and then takes on a number of policy questions, with case studies. Each chapter ends with discussion questions and the publisher maintains a web site with useful quantitative and graphing exercises (with answers).Michael Todaro writes from a left-of-center perspective and is more ideological than most textbook writers. However, he presents other points of view and presents them pretty fairly in my opinion. And I have to say that he scores some pretty big points against the neoclassical theorists by showing that their assumptions are frequently at odds with reality. While some of Todaro's more stridently ideological statements can be annoying, I know of no other book that provides such a comprehensive, well organized, and engagingly written introduction to economic development.

Todaro in this book presents what is quite possibly the easiest to understand introduction to developmental economics that the world has to offer. He does not provide quick answers but a logical and well thought out conception of the complexities of the problems in a format that although not wholly excluding mathmatics, uses it only in appendixes, etc. to explain problems-- which leaves the book open to a wider audience (and also does not allow its readers into the overly simplistic answers that too much mathmatics sometimes hints at....) In my studies of development, this book more often than any other served as a quick reference and fairly handy bibliography. I recommend this book to any undergraduate student or student of public policy the world over. It should be a classic.

Todaros's text on the complexities a developing country must face and consider to lead itself out of poverty and backwardness gets better with every edition, now on its sixth. It is the only book I have found that, with unsurpasssed dexterity, combines economics, sociology and political science into a unifying frame that should be required reading for policymakers and government throughout the developing world. His writing style, clarity of exposition and long-term vision are absolutely second to none.