For the past two decades,development theory has been trumped by development economics,while within economics itself the simplistic notions of neoclassical theory have prevailed with their assumption thet markets,freed up from all institutional restraints(including the state), will automatically deliver much higher rates of growth and overall development.Concious of the lamentable record of theses policies in both developing countries and the rich industrial nations,the eminent economists and other social scientists who have collaborated in this volume take issue with these nostrums.They believe that the recurrent intellectual inadequacies and policy mistakes create an urgent need to rethink economics as a discipline and development as a process.In this volume the authors seek to present an innovative new approach to economic development,drawing from heterodox intellectual traditions within economics as well as from the other social sciences. Economics itself needs to redefine many of its concepts on the basis of actaully observing the complex realities of functioning economies.And development needs to be reconceived as an inherently "thick" process of social change,in which each country's particular history and institutional workings take centre stage,variously constraining or enabling different times and places. This collection of major intellectual contributioins and their eminent authors demand careful consideration.The intention is to point the way theoretically to a much more sophisticated understanding of economic development.The ultimate prize,if we can ground our theory in a more accurate analysis of social change,is policies that really will deliver higher economic growth and greater social justice worldwide.