The Teaching of Development Economics: Its Position in the Present State of Knowledge. Edited by Kurt Martin and John Knapp. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company, 1967. pp.xv + 236. price $ 7.95.

The title of this book unfortunately is misleading, referring only to half the papers presented at the Manchester Conference on Teaching Economic Development, and the least interesting half at that. The first, and by far the most challenging part of the book, consists of Seers’ previously published article, “The Limitations of the Special Case”. This is followed by a list of twenty ‘leading questions’ on teaching economics by the same author, and papers by Myint, Hagen, Streeten and Balogh, dealing with various aspects of economic theory and its application to development planning. The last ninety pages of the book are devoted to the discussions which took place at the conference. As might have been expected, these read like a pale imitation of what probably was an interesting exchange of views. Few readers, one suspects, will be sufficiently motivated to work their way through these verbal arguments.