TITLE : ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 3RD ED.

A New Edition More than ten years have elapsed since the publication of the second edition of this book. While the nature of truth has not undergone notable changes during that period, new problems of economic development have appeared. More accurately, the general perception of what is and what is not important has changed. Methods of analyzing and treating development problems have been refined and, in a few cases, overturned. While tracing the intellectural history of economic development might have its attractions, we avoid that approach here. Instead, we survey the present panorama of international poverty, the applications to it of economic analysis, and the policies for improvement that the analysis implies.

Readers familiar with the previous edition will note that this edition has been completely rewritten. Chapters on population, urbanization, collective international action, employment, income distribution, and theories of economic development have been added. References to Chinese approaches to economic development mark the text at appropriate places. At the same time, we have tried to retain the sense of the importance of economic history that distinguished the previous edition.

The Authors'Biases It goes without saying that we both have our own views, not all of which coincide. Readers should be conscious of these views. We are both natives of developed regions in an amuent country. We try to avoid a patronizing tone, since in fact we do not feel patronizing about the problems of international poverty; we can only hope to succeed. Neither of us has, so far as we know, a regional bias, although one of us has spent some years living and working in Latin America.

We think economic development is a good thing. We are inclined to think that international development in all its facets concerns all countries, not just the poor ones. It is increasingly clear that events in the world's poor countries have important repercussions in rich countries-both in resource allocation (e.g., oil embargoes and price changes) and in attitudinal change (e.g.. interna- tional transmission of world opinion).

If we have a bias that we are capable of recognizing, it is one of skepticism. That stance is unlikely to be questioned. Anyone who claims to understand economic development completely, or to have found "the" key to "the" secret of economic growth, is likely to be a fool or a charlatan or both. We continue to subscribe to the assertion that "everything is more complicated than most people think."

Charles P. Kindleberger Lincolns Massachusetts

Bruce Herriek Los Angeles, California

November 1976