The field of development economics has evolved since volume 3 of the Handbook of Development Economics was published more than a decade ago. Volume 4 takes stock of some of the newer trends and their implications for research in the field and our understanding of economic development. The handbook is divided into four sections which reflect these developments, of which the first deals with agricultural and rural development. Section two is concerned with developments in the theory and evidence regarding public goods and political economy. The third section is focused on the behavior of households and individuals regarding various aspects of human capital investments, in the face of the various constraints, particularly market incentives and public goods. The final section contains papers that describe the different methods now available, both experimental and non-experimental, to conduct program evaluations, as well as describing papers that implement these methods. The authors of

1. Economic Development and the Decline of Agricultural Employment2. Information Networks in Dynamic Agrarian Economies3. Public Action for Public Goods4. Understanding Political Corruption in Low Income Countries5. Household Formation and Marriage Markets6. Population Policies, Fertility, Women's Human Capital, and Child Quality7. Health Economics for Low Income Countries8. Health over the Life Course9. Schooling in Developing Countries: The Roles of Supply, Demand and Government Policy10. The Impact of Child Health and Nutrition on Education in Less Developed Countries11. Child Labor12. Extended Family and Kinship Networks: Economic Insights and Evolutionary Directions13. Evaluating Anti-Poverty Programs14. Evaluating Social Programs with Endogenous Program Placement and Selection of the Treated15. Using Randomization in Development Economics Research: A Toolkit16. Evaluating Conditional Schooling Health and Health Programs