François Bourguignon is Professor Emeritus at the Paris School of Economics.

Avinash Dixit is Emeritus Professor of Economics at Princeton University.

Luc Leruth is Research Associate at the University of Clermont Auvergne.

Jean-Philippe Platteau is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Namur.

Editors' Introduction Part I: Development and structural transformation of society and economy 1 A Bengali Novel on Economic Transition in History 2 Tradition and Modernity in Subsaharan Africa: Insights from Achebe's Things Fall Apart 3 The Art of Conquering Without Being Right: Agency, Education, and Learning by Doing in Cheikh Hamidou Kane's "Ambiguous Adventure". 4 On Capitalism and Colonialism: The Economic Imperatives Underlying Amitav Ghosh's "Sea of Poppies" 5 The Lone Scream in the Dark: Cultural Change and Institutional Transformation in Modern China as seen through Lu Xun's Novel 6 Zola's Ladies' Paradise and Creative Destruction 7 Women in a nervous breakdown: Intra household bargaining and gender norms in South Korea Part II: Market operation and dysfunction8 Only the Housing Problem Has Corrupted Them 9 Can Machines Replace Us? 10 Abdulrazak Gurnah and Contract-Enforcement Institutions in His Novel By the Sea 11 Marriage and Markets: Lessons from Pride and Prejudice Part III: Limits of the Homo Economicus model 12 The Esterházy Myth: How Economics and Literature Correct Mistakes 13 The Nostalgia for Missed Opportunities 14 The Financial Expert of Malgudi 15 Estates, Inheritance and Gifts: Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth 16 The Inheritance Mess: Père Goriot and King Lear Offer Us a Mirror 17 The Master, the Helicopter, and Margarita 18 Money in the Faustian pact Part IV: Rent-seeking, corruption and bad political governance 19 How Steinbeck Speaks to Institutions in Economics 20 The Economics of Innocence: Imbolo Mbue's "How Beautiful We Were" 21 Frank Herbert's Dune