Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 18 Jul 2016).

How the other two-thirds live -- What is economic development? -- Economic development in historical perspective -- Characteristics and institutions of developing countries -- Theories of economic development -- Poverty, malnutrition, and income inequality -- Rural poverty and agricultural transformation -- Population and development -- Employment, migration, and urbanization -- Education, health, and human capital -- Capital formation, investment choice, information technology, and technical progress -- Entrepreneurship, organization, and innovation -- Is economic growth sustainable? Natural resources and the environment -- Monetary, fiscal, and incomes policies and inflation -- Balance of payments, aid, and foreign investment -- The external debt and financial crises -- International trade -- The transition to liberalization and economic reform: Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and China -- Stabilization, adjustment, and reform.

Nafziger explains the reasons for the recent fast growth of India, Poland, Brazil, China, and other Pacific Rim countries, and the slow, yet essential, growth for a turnaround of sub-Saharan Africa. The book is suitable for those with a background in economics principles. The fifth edition of the text, written by a scholar of developing countries, is replete with real-world examples and up-to-date information. Nafziger discusses poverty, income inequality, hunger, unemployment, the environment and carbon-dioxide emissions, and the widening gap between rich (including middle-income) and poor countries. Other new components include the rise and fall of models based on Russia, Japan, China/Taiwan/Korea and North America; randomized experiments to assess aid; an exploration of whether information technology and mobile phones can provide poor countries with a shortcut to prosperity; and a discussion of how worldwide financial crises, debt, and trade and capital markets affect developing countries.