Dasgupta, Partha: Selected Papers of Partha Dasgupta

The Selected Papers of Partha Dasgupta brings together the works of one of the most distinguished economists working today. Professor Dasgupta was Knighted in 2002 for services to economics and his research interests have covered welfare and development economics, the economics of technological change, population, environmental and resource economics, the theory of games, and the economics of undernutrition. This two-volume collection represents a body of work spanning 40 years and contains a selection of Dasgupta's most original papers on six key themes. Both volumes feature foundational papers and substantial original introductions. The articles reflect inter-disciplinary scholarship in the author's search for a unifying way to analyse the problems people face in trying to allocate resources over time, among groups, and across uncertain contingencies. Each volume opens with an extended essay explaining the motivation underlying economics; the concept of what economics is about and how modern economists move within it. The author makes essential use of findings in anthropology, demography, ecology, geography, moral philosophy, and the environmental and nutritional sciences, but studies social phenomena through the lens of economics, to unravel the pathways by which scarce resources are produced, exchanged, and disseminated.Each of the papers in these volumes is a jewel. Together, they are a treasure. Dasgupta's oeuvre speaks of compassion, sharp observation, and above all analytical brilliance. More than a collection of great papers, this work catalogues the reasoning of an extraordinary mind, determined to address the most important problems of our age. In Dasgupta's hands, economic theory fulfills its true promise, explaining why some people are destitute in a world of plenty, why natural resources that should be husbanded are plundered, why fertility remains stubbornly high in places that cannot sustain a high population, and much, much more. His theories also tell us how policy can right these wrongs. When I need inspiration, I shall look here.