“Pranab Bardhan is a master of small, clear, and pointed economic models. He is also a virtuoso at making them speak to important questions of economic development. The last third of this book reveals yet another Bardhan: the patient digger after the ways in which social institutions and economic law combine to activate village economies in rural India. There is something to learn about economic development on every page.”
Robert Solow, Nobel Laureate, MIT

“Pranab Bardhan is one of the most influential development economists of his generation. His approach, which emphasises the interplay of economic and social institutions in shaping resource allocation, now permeates mainstream thinking about how economies work. These essays provide key insights into the economics of growth, trade, and factor markets and will be of interest to a wide range of scholars interested in the processes of economic development.”Timothy Besley, London School of Economics