Trade and Development Blog

HDI tables and statistics by country (with useful graphs and explanations) from the UNDP .  A good way to better understand the HDI index is to play with the  online HDI calculator

Today's New York Times ran an article on an interesting and controversial crusader for outcasts in India. The article is " When Crusader Sees Wealth as Cure for Caste Bias "(you may need to register -for free- to view full article). Relevant for the start-of-semester readings/discussion on 'What is development? Think of Amartya Sen 's ideas on income, development and exclusion as you read. Lots of bits in the article on the role of markets, discrimination, and policies to promote development. A few choice quotes: ... There are about 200 million Dalits, or members of the Scheduled Castes, as they are known officially, in India. They remain socially scorned in city and country, and they are over-represented among India’s uneducated, malnourished and poor. ...When Chandra Bhan Prasad visits his ancestral village in these feudal badlands of northern India, he dispenses the following advice to his fellow untouchables: Get rid of your cattle, because the care of anim...