Publication

This paper is concerned with the dominant position of the discipline of economics in studies of international development, and within economics of methodologically individualist, choice-based economic theory. It does not contest the power of this particular ‘set of rules’, and recognises that in terms of rigour and of parsimony it is exemplary within the social sciences. Yet it is mistaken to assume that because of these qualities work in other disciplines is only a kind of a non-essential luxury to be afforded in the universities of rich countries; that it is mistaken to believe that the application of the same set of rules provides the most satisfactory explanations of political and other non-economic aspects of human action; and that it is a mistake, too, to de-emphasise the contributions of other approaches within economics itself. The overall goal is to make the case for cross-disciplinary work on international development, whilst respecting the importance of contributions from within individual disciplines.