All The Difference

He goes on to tell the story of his advisory missions to Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, and the South Pacific. Higgins weaves anecdotal accounts of his adventures in these regions, and gives his personal reactions to these environments along with analysis of the development efforts in which he participated. He explains how professional thinking about economic and social development evolved as experience and knowledge accumulated. The book also includes accounts of the author's experiences with, and reactions to, a variety of multicultural and bilateral aid agencies, thus providing an intimate picture of their operation. In his final chapter Higgins sums up his own views on the current state of economic development, development economics, economics in general, and the role of political and cultural factors in the development process.

All the Difference is the story of one man's work in the vast international effort since World War II to raise standards of living in less developed countries; an effort in which all member countries of the United Nations have to some extent been involved. In the opening chapter Benjamin Higgins recounts how, almost by accident, he became a "development economist" at the age of thirty-nine, and indicates how inadequate the training and experience of the first generation of development economists were for this role.

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Higgins recounts how, almost by accident, he became a development economist at the age of 39. He indicates how inadequate for this role were the training and experience of the first generation of development economists, and goes on to tell the story of his advisory missions to Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, and the South Pacific, interweaving anecdotal accounts of his adventures with analysis of the development efforts in which he participated. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)