Development as social inclusion: Reflections on the US subprime crisis

Gary A. Dymski argues that the twin ideas of social exclusion and inclusion should be incorporated as central elements in development thinking of practitioners and theorists. The failure of economists to make analytical room for these twin notions has caused them to miss or misinterpret significant aspects of the development process, and of development crisis. Indeed, the 2007-2008 subprime crisis provides apt evidence of the significance of social inclusion in development; for its roots lie in the historical evolution of financial exclusion in the United States. © 2010 Society for International Development.