The Bangladesh Economy

The present volume is a compilation of articles originally published at various times in the Journal of Bangladesh Studies. The selection was predicated on two main criteria: their immediate relevance to the Bangladesh economy and the reputation of the authors who have a track record of publications in international journals and have influenced the thinking of others through their insightful writing. The book covers a gamut of important areas that concern economists and have the potential to shape economic thinking in Bangladesh. Among the important themes covered are macroeconomic issues, trade reforms and their impact, trade and international migration, determinants of aggregate import demand, impact and influence of foreign aid on government decision-making, foreign aid and GDP growth, money supply and output prices, effects of political instability on domestic savings, population growth and its relationship to per capita income growth, the effects of microcredit in poverty alleviation, the contributions of small and medium industries despite their lack of access to formal bank credit, microfinance and sustainability of self-reliance, compensation reform for the government labor pool, and performance of the non-financial state-owned corporations. This compilation is destined to become a major source of economic ideas and analyses to serve scholars, researchers and students. Additionally, the valuable collection of essays in this volume would be a rich mine of information on the Bangladesh economy to be read and perused and will serve as a guide for the practitioners involved with economic thought and application in Bangladesh.