Economics, Social Science and Development*

Development economics nowadays is mainstream economics applied to poor countries. An examination of the core principles of mainstream economics reveals tremendous strengths, but also tremendous weaknesses. Other disciplines, such as sociology, anthropology and political science, have complementary strengths that suggest a role for them as equal partners in development studies and policy. The argument for a partnership of disciplines is logical and strong. But cross-disciplinarity is not easy in practice. It is best achieved through concrete exercises which demonstrate exactly how “two disciplines are better than one” when analyzing specific policy issues in development. * This paper is an introduction to and commentary on a set of papers which will appear in World Development: “The Case for Cross-Disciplinary Approaches in International Development,” by John Harriss; “Disciplining Gender?” by Cecile Jackson; and “Combining Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches in Poverty Analysis,” by Howard White. The complete set will appear in the March 2002 issue of World Development (Vol. 30, No. 3). I am grateful to John Harriss for inviting me to prepare this commentary.