The authors

This blog was contributed by G. Upham (SOI, Geneva, G2H2 member) and C. Mulhall (Graduate Institute, Geneva).

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Demolishing Development Myths to Meet the SDGs. Handbook of Alternative Theories of Economic Development. A book launch at the United Nations Library

On June 28th 2017, UNCTAD and UNRISD, the two United Nations institutions in the forefront of heterodox economic thinking for development, jointly organized a book launch at the Geneva Palais des Nation’s library: “Handbook of Alternative Theories of Economic Development” is the title of this 800 pages, groundbreaking volume by economists from all continents.

The topic of the launch, to present development oriented economics for the SDGs, was a reminder of the verbal remark of Ms. Amina J. Mohammed, who is today Deputy UN Secretary General, in an ECOSOC session some time ago in Geneva. She commented that UN objectives against poverty looked “very much like a Christmas Tree where everyone wants to hang something, yet there is little appetite as to how to get there!”.

How to get there? Such is the central topic and objective of this publication “Handbook of Alternative Theories of Economic Development.” Edited by Erik Reinert, Jayati Ghosh and Rainer Kattel, this book of 812 pages brings together over 40 world experts in economic development policy and takes us through a wide and historical journey from Italy in the 16th century to the present, and, as such, it is a rather unique and well timed initiative for anyone with hunger for achieving the SDGs!

This publication coincides with the publication of former UNCTAD professional and now chief economist for the inter-governmental organization South Centre: Yilmaz Akyüz, “Playing with Fire”, a warning on the financial integration of emerging and developing countries, which discusses the new vulnerabilities of LMICs to external financial shocks.

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Continue reading (full contribution available as PDF)
Handbook of Alternative Theories of Economic Development: Publisher’s website