Moser (Global Urban Research Center, University of Manchester, UK) and Dani (Sustainable Development Network, World Bank) collect work on the diverse strategies adopted by the poor in developing countries to accumulate assets through migration, housing investments, natural resources management, and informal businesses. Case studies presented lead to differentiation among three different types of asset-based social policies that can strengthen asset accumulation: policies that directly influence access to assets by the poor; polices and public investments that change the nature of returns on investments, such as investments in rural roads; and polices that transform the value of assets held by the poor by virtue of administrative decisions, such as land use regulations affecting resource use. The chapters, originally commissioned to re-examine major gaps in knowledge and development practice 10 years after the Copenhagen Summit on Social Development, are authored by leading scholars from economics, anthropology, sociology, geography, and developmental studies. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
