This text bringa together essays reflecting the author's longstanding interest in economic development. The issues discussed in this book include econometric testing of the disguised unemployment hypothesis, theoretical and applied approaches to famine, poverty in rich as well as poor countries, poverty in Latin America and state involvement in economic development. The volume also includes a discussion of the essay by Lenin which was the basis of the "New Economic Policy", the first attempt at Market Socialism in the Soviet Union. In addition, the book contains an autobiographical preface, in which Lord Desai explains how he became an economist and the influences behind the development of his thought, as well as a specific introduction explaining how he came to produce the papers included in the book.