The Economics of Agricultural Development by John W. Mellor. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1966. pp.400.

The Economics of Agricultural Development is an importantbook. Throughout the book, Mellor uses economic analysis to organize,extend, understand, and evaluate the economic facts of the agriculturalsector in a de¬veloping country. He treats agricultural developmentwithin the framework of overall economic growth and highlights theinteraction between agriculture and the rest of the economy.("Agriculture and Foreign Exchange", for instance, is the title of oneearly chapter, "Agriculture and Capital Formation" is the title ofanother.) It is not enough, for instance, to show that chemicalfertilizer can have significant influence on agricultural output in adeveloping country. It is also necessary to consider alternative uses ofthe scarce foreign exchange it requires and alternative uses ofindustrial capital. Also it is necessary to decide when to stopincreasing fertilizer supply and turn to other activities. Thisessen¬tial integration of agriculture into overall development activityacts as a useful antidote to the special pleading that tends to surroundsectoral planning for so large and politically powerful a sector asagriculture and to those economic theorists who ignore this sector,which produces 50-90 per cent of GNP.