Michael Todaro
Encyclopedia
Michael P. Todaro is an American
economist and a pioneer
in the field of development economics
.
Michael P. Todaro was Professor of Economics at New York University
for eighteen years and Senior Associate at the Population Council
for thirty years. He lived and taught in Africa
for six years. He appears in Who's Who in Economics and Economists of the Twentieth Century. He is also the author of eight books and more than fifty professional articles. In a special February 2011 centenary edition, the American Economic Review
selected Todaro’s article “Migration, Unemployment and Development: A 2-Sector Analysis” (with John Harris) as one of the twenty most important articles published by that journal during the first one hundred years of its existence. He is the co-author of the widely used textbook, Economic Development, 11th Edition, published in 2011.
Professor Todaro’s five years of living and teaching in Africa as well as two decades of extensive travel throughout Latin America
and Asia
, first as a director of the Rockefeller Foundation
and then as a professor of economics at New York University
. These experiences have helped shape and refine a book that is unique among development texts in approach, organization, and pedagogy
. The textbook Economic Development takes a policy-oriented approach, presenting economic theory in the context of critical policy debates and country-specific case studies to show how theory relates to the problems and prospects of developing countries. Among its most significant innovations are the following:
Migration research. Professor Todaro developed the Todaro Migration Model, studied the Todaro Paradox (examining how an urban public sector jobs creation program could actually lead to an increased number of workers who are unemployed), coauthored the Harris Todaro Model.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
economist and a pioneer
Innovation
Innovation is the creation of better or more effective products, processes, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society...
in the field of development economics
Development economics
Development Economics is a branch of economics which deals with economic aspects of the development process in low-income countries. Its focus is not only on methods of promoting economic growth and structural change but also on improving the potential for the mass of the population, for example,...
.
Michael P. Todaro was Professor of Economics at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
for eighteen years and Senior Associate at the Population Council
Population Council
The Population Council is an international, nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The Council conducts biomedical, social science, and public health research and helps build research capacities in developing countries. One-third of its research relates to HIV and AIDS; its other major program...
for thirty years. He lived and taught in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
for six years. He appears in Who's Who in Economics and Economists of the Twentieth Century. He is also the author of eight books and more than fifty professional articles. In a special February 2011 centenary edition, the American Economic Review
American Economic Review
The American Economic Review is a peer-reviewed academic journal of economics publishing seven issues annually by the American Economic Association. First published in 1911, it is considered one of the most prestigious journals in the field. The current editor-in-chief is Penny Goldberg . The...
selected Todaro’s article “Migration, Unemployment and Development: A 2-Sector Analysis” (with John Harris) as one of the twenty most important articles published by that journal during the first one hundred years of its existence. He is the co-author of the widely used textbook, Economic Development, 11th Edition, published in 2011.
Awards and Positions
- Membership Roster, Council on Foreign RelationsCouncil on Foreign RelationsThe Council on Foreign Relations is an American nonprofit nonpartisan membership organization, publisher, and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs...
. 1995 - Director, Rockefeller FoundationRockefeller FoundationThe Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
- Professor of economics, New York UniversityNew York UniversityNew York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
- Senior Associate, at Population CouncilPopulation CouncilThe Population Council is an international, nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The Council conducts biomedical, social science, and public health research and helps build research capacities in developing countries. One-third of its research relates to HIV and AIDS; its other major program...
Innovations
Economic DevelopmentProfessor Todaro’s five years of living and teaching in Africa as well as two decades of extensive travel throughout Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
and Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, first as a director of the Rockefeller Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
and then as a professor of economics at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
. These experiences have helped shape and refine a book that is unique among development texts in approach, organization, and pedagogy
Pedagogy
Pedagogy is the study of being a teacher or the process of teaching. The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction....
. The textbook Economic Development takes a policy-oriented approach, presenting economic theory in the context of critical policy debates and country-specific case studies to show how theory relates to the problems and prospects of developing countries. Among its most significant innovations are the following:
- It teaches economic development within the context of a major set of problems, such as poverty, inequality, unemployment, population growth, environmental decay, and rural stagnation. Formal, abstractAbstractionAbstraction is a process by which higher concepts are derived from the usage and classification of literal concepts, first principles, or other methods....
modelsConceptual modelIn the most general sense, a model is anything used in any way to represent anything else. Some models are physical objects, for instance, a toy model which may be assembled, and may even be made to work like the object it represents. They are used to help us know and understand the subject matter...
and concepts are used to elucidate real-world development problems rather than being presented in isolation from case study illustrations.
- It adopts a problem- and policy-oriented approach to the teaching of development economicsDevelopment economicsDevelopment Economics is a branch of economics which deals with economic aspects of the development process in low-income countries. Its focus is not only on methods of promoting economic growth and structural change but also on improving the potential for the mass of the population, for example,...
on the assumption that a central objective of any development economics course should be the fostering of a student’s ability to understand contemporary economic problems of developing countries and to reach independent and informed judgments and policy conclusions about their possible resolution.
- It approaches development problems systematically by following a standard pedagogic procedure with regard to their analysis and exposition. Each chapter begins by stating the general nature of a problem, its principal issues, and how it is manifested empirically in various developing countries. The chapter then presents main goals and possible objectives, the role of economic analysis in illuminating the problem, and some possible policy alternatives and their likely consequences. This approach not only helps students think systematically about major current development issues but, even more important, provides them with a methodology and an operating procedure for analyzing and reaching policy conclusions about other contemporary and future development problems.
- It starts from the premise that it is possible to design and structure a broadly based development economics textbook that simultaneously uses the best available data from Africa, Asia, and Latin America and appropriate theoretical tools to illuminate common developing country problems, although these problems will of course differ in both scope and magnitude when we deal with such diverse countries as India, Bangladesh, Kenya, Egypt, Nigeria, Brazil, Mexico, and Guatemala.
- It focuses on a wide range of developing countries not only as independent nation-stateNation-stateThe nation state is a state that self-identifies as deriving its political legitimacy from serving as a sovereign entity for a nation as a sovereign territorial unit. The state is a political and geopolitical entity; the nation is a cultural and/or ethnic entity...
s but also in relation to one another and in their interactions with rich nations in a global economy.
- It recognizes the necessity of treating the problems of development and underdevelopment from an institutional and structural (noneconomic) as well as an economic perspective, with appropriate modifications of received general economic principles, theories, and policies. It thus attempts to combine relevant theory with realistic institutional analyses.
- It views development and underdevelopment in both domestic and international contexts, stressing the increasing interdependence of the world economy in areas such as food, energy, natural resources, technology, information, and financialFINANCIALFINANCIAL is the weekly English-language newspaper with offices in Tbilisi, Georgia and Kiev, Ukraine. Published by Intelligence Group LLC, FINANCIAL is focused on opinion leaders and top business decision-makers; It's about world’s largest companies, investing, careers, and small business. It is...
flows.
- It considers the many economic, social, and institutional problems of underdevelopment as closely interrelated and requiring simultaneous and coordinated approaches to their solution at both the national and international levels.
- Topics include the capability approach to development, comparative development, economic growth, convergence, contemporary models including multiple equilibria, poverty, inequality, population, migration, urbanization, education, child labor, health, agriculture, environment, roles of markets and government, nongovernmental organisations, international trade and development, debt, conflict, aid, direct foreign investment, microfinance, public administration and fiscal and monetary policy for development.
- In the 2011 edition Todaro and Smith introduced a major section on causes and consequences of violent conflict, post-conflict recovery and development, and prevention of conflict through an improved understanding of its major causes. There is a detailed examination of impacts and outlooks regarding the recent global financial crisis and economic development. The revision features reports of development economics empirical findings in boxes that examine a variety of both methods and topics and address both specific policy concerns — such as improving child health, education, and microfinance design — and a broader understanding of sources of disparities in the world’s economies that can inform strategy of economic development. The text features comparative case studies including in-depth comparisons of Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire, and of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It examines the United Nations Development Programme's Multidimensional Poverty Index (that was released in August 2010) and its New Human Development Index (that was released in November 2010).
Migration research. Professor Todaro developed the Todaro Migration Model, studied the Todaro Paradox (examining how an urban public sector jobs creation program could actually lead to an increased number of workers who are unemployed), coauthored the Harris Todaro Model.
Books
- Internal Migration in Developing Countries: A Review of Theory, Evidence, Methodology and Research Priorities (International Labour Office, 1976)
- Economics for a Developing World: An Introduction to Principles, Problems and Policies for Development (longman, 1977)
- Economic Development in the Third World (longman, 1985)
- Economic Development, 11th ed., with Stephen C. SmithStephen C. SmithStephen C. Smith is an economist, author, and educator. He is Director of the Institute for International Economic Policy at George Washington University, where he is also Professor of Economics and International Affairs.-Background:...
(Pearson EducationPearson EducationPearson Education is an international educational publishing and technology company providing textbooks and other educational material, such as multimedia learning tools...
and Addison-WesleyAddison-WesleyAddison-Wesley was a book publisher in Boston, Massachusetts, best known for its textbooks and computer literature. As well as publishing books, Addison-Wesley also distributed its technical titles through the Safari Books Online e-reference service...
, April 2011). Table of contents for 10th Ed. link from Amazon.com. - Economics for a developing world : an introduction to principles, problems (longman, 1983)
- City bias and rural neglect : the dilemma of urban development (Population Council, 1981)
- The Struggle for Economic Development: Readings in Problems and Polices (longman, 1983)
- Development planning: Models and Methods (longman, 1983)
- Reflections on Economic Development: The Selected Essays of Michael P. Todaro (Edward Elgar, 1995)