This essay is meant to describe the current frontiers of development economics, as I see them. So rather than attempt an exhaustive review of several areas, I would like to concentrate on a few methodological points around which recent literature appears to have clustered. More than anything else, I want to bring out for you a certain way of thinking about development that has become increasingly influential over the last couple of decades, one that is changing and will continue to change the face of research in this discipline. The main trend I would like to try and document is a move–welcome, in my opinion–away from a traditional preoccupation with the notion of convergence.
