This systematic evaluation of Iraq's political economy and human development offers a complex and sophisticated analysis of Iraq's recent history. Focusing on the period from 1950 up to the Gulf war in 1990, the book brings an understanding of how development has been shaped or constrained in...

Prospects for Iraq's economy are bleak: unemployment remains high and the post-war rebuilding effort has slowed to a trickle, weighed down by chronic instability. Rising oil prices increased GDP in 2004 and 2005. But an oil-induced rise in GDP will not necessarily bring about a general rise in...

1. Human development theory and Iraq's developmental story -- 2. Social, political, and economic evolution of Iraq, 1920-1990 -- 3. Economic growth, consumption, income distribution, and capital formation -- 4. Education -- 5. Housing, basic services, nutrition and health -- 6. The position of...