Ian Goldin - The Pursuit of Development: Economic Growth, Social Change and Ideas

Ian Goldin has been in the engine room of policy and action in South Africa, a leading figure in the World Bank and at the head of one of the worlds most important research institutions in Oxford. This important book reflects the richness of his experience and scholarship. It shows how development can be fostered as well as the vulnerabilities, complexities and risks. It is succinct, wise, well-informed, broad ranging and deep. It is also very accessible and admirable in its brevity. A splendid achievement.

Lord Nicholas Stern, President of the British Academy, and IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government, London School of Economics.

I strongly recommend Ian Goldins excellent booka must read for anyone interested in development. He shows why some people and some countries stay poor while others get rich. This highly accessible book identifies what development means, why it matters and what we can all do to improve our world.

Sir Suma Chakrabarti, President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and former Permanent Secretary of the United Kingdom Department of International Development and of the Ministry of Justice.

The Pursuit of Development by Ian Goldin could not have come at a better time. The adoption of Sustainable Development Goals puts a high premium on our understanding of how development happens at a time when the global economic landscape is undergoing seismic changes. The rigour of analysis and the broad approach to the evolution of thinking beyond the narrow economic approach over time is one which will greatly benefit the younger generation students of development. I highly recommend this primer.

Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank (2005 to 2015) and formerly Minister of Finance, Rwanda.

Every citizen should be a champion of, and contributor to, sustainable development. Ian Goldins book is a great starting point for understanding our current sustainable development challenges and future possibilities, including the end of poverty in our time. The book offers a succinct, highly readable, and reasoned introduction to the debates and the data, from the vantage point of a world-leading development thinker and practitioner.

Jeffrey D. Sachs, Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General on the Sustainable Development Goals and author of The Age of Sustainable Development.

Anyone interested in development should read The Pursuit of Development. Development remains the greatest challenge for humanity. Drawing on his remarkable experience, Ian Goldin looks both back and forward to address the remaining old and the many emerging challenges, including rising inequality and climate change. I strongly recommend this immensely readable, timely and vitally important book.

Kumi Naidoo, International Executive Director, Greenpeace and former Secretary General, Civicus.

Ian Goldin looks at the complexities of development in our interconnected world, and does what so few do. Joining up the dots, he looks beyond the narrowly economic, and beyond Governments to people. He considers the important role played by social movements and by those in a broad range of organisations. He tells us that we all have a part to play if only we continue learning. A must read.

Baroness Valerie Amos, Former UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian and Emergency Relief, Director of SOAS, University of London.

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Ian Goldin 2016

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First Edition published in 2016

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2015956178

ISBN 9780198778035

ebook ISBN 9780191083860

Printed in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc

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To the memory of my mother

Who taught me to look and learn