A Review of Diana Hunt’s Economic Theories of Development: An Analysis of Competing Paradigms

Abstract

This essay presents an extensive review of Diana Hunt’s Economic Theories of Development, aiming to expose the reader to the most important points of the book. The author starts by an introduction to present the economic heritage of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that formed the basis upon which the reviewed development economists constructed their models and theories. She then works to classify the economic literature under six main headings and moves to demonstrate the main elements of each paradigm, their contributions to the debate of development economics or to policy formulation before discussing the critiques levied against each. A final chapter of the book is devoted to comprehensive comparisons among different paradigms demonstrating potential points of similarities and divergences among each other, and possible influence from each one on others.