Book
A landmark argument for bringing cultural knowledge into development economics — with examples from Nepal to South Sudan, Senegal to the Philippines.
Author: Robert Klitgaard
Year: 2021
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Topics: Culture, Development, Anthropology, Economics, Policy
About This Book
Gently but firmly, Robert Klitgaard shows how and why anthropology and cultural studies have fallen short in application — and yet have much to offer development economics and policy.
Through lively examples ranging from Nepal to South Sudan, from Senegal to the Philippines, from Niger and Equatorial Guinea to Indonesia, Klitgaard demonstrates how cultural knowledge can reshape economic and political development. Anthropology can provide distinctive information, compelling case studies, deconstructions of harmful cultural texts, and processes for combining outside expertise with local knowledge.
The Culture and Development Manifesto has the goal of mobilizing knowledge from and for the disadvantaged, the indigenous, and the voiceless — always respecting their sovereignty. For economists and policymakers, the message is clear: policy research should not aim at deriving solutions but at enabling creative and collaborative problem solving.
Praise
“In this highly engaging book, Klitgaard not only brings economics and culture into dialog with each other, he goes beyond ‘culture matters’ to demonstrate what ‘taking culture into account’ may mean in practice. This is a book that only Klitgaard could have pulled off.
Dani Rodrik, Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy, Harvard Kennedy School
“This book seeks to open a path between two disciplines that often seem hermetically sealed — cultural anthropology and development economics. It will be of immense use to any practitioner working at this highly fraught boundary.”
Francis Fukuyama, Stanford University
“A brilliant plea, subtly combining scholarship, examples, and common sense, to mobilize the competencies of anthropologists for a better adaptation of development policies to local conditions.”
Jean-Pierre Olivier de Sardan, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
Related Work
Related themes: Culture & Development | International Development
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