ABSTRACT
Wide disparities of income in the world have been a reason to turn to economics right from the subject’s very beginnings – see Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, 1776. Over two centuries later, however, modern economics still cannot make up its mind about the answers to this ‘inquiry’. Surprisingly, there is not even agreement about how important the study of poverty and wealth is – are the problems of development and growth central to economics, or are they a specific branch or application of the subject?
