Ragnar Nurkse (1907-1959) was one of the most important pioneers of development economics, and although his writings have been neglected in recent decades, leading development economists and international organizations such as the United Nations are now turning to Nurkse in search for new inspiration, due to the failure of neoclassical economics to adequately explain the experience of poor and developing countries. Yet Nurkse’s contribution to the field has never before been analysed before at book length.

The present volume, ‘Ragnar Nurkse (1907-2007): Classical Development Economics and its Relevance for Today’, contains a selection of papers that cast new insight on Nurkse’s thought, and discuss his relevance for today. The volume also celebrates the 100th anniversary of this profoundly important thinker’s birth.

Rainer Kattel is Professor of Innovation Policy and Technology Governance, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia.

Jan A. Kregel is Senior Scholar at The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College; the Center for Full Employment and Price Stability at the University of Missouri, Kansas City; and the Tallinn University of Technology.

Erik S. Reinert is Chairman of The Other Canon Foundation, Norway, and Professor at Tallinn University of Technology.

Anthem Other Canon Economics

Anthem Frontiers of Global Political Economy and Development

Preface; The Relevance of Ragnar Nurkse and Development Economics; The Life and Times of Ragnar Nurkse; Nurkse and the Role of Finance in Development Economics; Early Development Theory from Sun Yat-Sen to Ragnar Nurkse; The Roots of the Unequal Exchange; Nurkse and the Latin American Development Tradition (Prebisch/CEPAL); Industrializing the Periphery; Ragnar Nurkse and the Law&Economics of Development; The Influence of Keynes and Schumpeter on Nurkse's Development Theory; Nurkse Meets Schumpeter; Is the Accumulation of International Reserves Good for Development?; International Currency Experience and the Bretton Woods Agreement; Some Reflections on Nurkse’s ‘Patterns of Trade and Development’; India and Development Economics; Notes