Outstanding female economists in the analysis and practice of development economics

This article examines the contributions of five eminent economists, all wom en, to the analysis and practice of development economics. Irma Adelman, Fr ances Stewart, and Nancy Birdsall are leading advocates of alternative deve lopment strategies that focus on poverty alleviation and investment in huma n capital. Anne Krueger and Alice Amsden stand at the forefront of two oppo sing camps in a lively and long-lasting debate on the appropriate role of g overnment in trade and industrialization. We use the storied careers of the se economists as a vehicle to convey the big picture of how development eco nomics has evolved and which topics have proved durable. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.