This volume is a treasure chest. Over the decades, with the clarity of an expert and critical user of statistical evidence, Prof. Radhakrishna has dedicated his economics to practical objectives of the first importance. He has mobilised and justified powerful arguments for egalitarian development. As a close observer of the economic roles of poor people, he knows them to be a vital resource and their food supply, their nutrition and their livelihoods to be top priorities for public action. He also sees social policy as economic policy.