Structural transformation as the pathway out of poverty

The structural transformation is the defining characteristic of the development process, both cause and effect of modern economic growth. The desirable endpoint is an economy and society where agriculture as an economic activity has no distinguishing characteristics from other sectors, at least in terms of the productivity of labor and capital, or the location of poverty. The pathway out of poverty leads to the city.

C. Peter Timmer is a Fellow of the Center for Global Development. He is an authority on agricultural development, food security, and the world rice economy who has published scores of papers and books on these topics. He has served as a professor at Stanford, Cornell, three faculties at Harvard, and the University of California, San Diego, where he was also the dean of the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies. Timmer is now the Cabot Professor of Development Studies, emeritus, at Harvard University.