THE DISAPPOINTMENTS AND SUCCESSES OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS. Nick commented here on my celebration—-along with Nicholas Kristov—-of the economic success of the world’s poor in 2018. I agree with Nick that other important goals remain to be achieved. However in my lifetime, this is a big deal. Kristov writes that when he was a university student “in the early 1980s, 44 percent of the world’s population lived in extreme poverty. Now, fewer than 10 percent of the world’s population lives in extreme poverty, as adjusted for inflation.”
Kristov puts this achievement in the context of his own life. I think of it the same way. When I was a student in the 1960’s, courses in “development economics” were coming in to existence. There was cautious hope of great success. That hope was why a lot of people were studying economics. But Kristov points out that in the early 80’s, you still had extreme poverty (Kristov gives a 44% figure in extreme poverty by one measure). I think there was a great disappointment in how things were turning out. Again, personally, I am really surprised at the recent success.