Browsing through the catalogues reveals a fine crop of forthcoming titles pretty much across the board. At MIT Press, The Economics of Growth by Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt is out this month, which looks fantastically comprehensive and clear, and should appeal to applied economists as well as students – it includes an appendix on how to do the econometrics. March brings Inside the Fed by Stephen Axelrod, a timely memoir from a long-time Fed staffer. In April Africa's Turn? by Edward Miguel will be published, an essay expressing optimism about Africa's prospects, with some pessimistic responses from other experts. I noticed this particularly because the blurb mentions the impact of cellphones, and I know from my own long-standing consultancy work on the impact of mobiles in developing countries that the below-the-radar effect of the first access to communications is significant. In Kenya in particular mobiles are now also providing access to basic banking services for poor people, in an amazingly successful scheme called MPesa. Another tantalising prospect is Guns and Butter, on the economics of conflict, edited by Gregory Hess, out in June. (There are some interesting backlist titles on development on MIT Press's list as well, including The Elusive Quest for Growth by William Easterly.) In an area of special interest to me is Transforming Global Information and Communication Markets by Peter Cowhey and Jonathan Aronson, looking at the political economy of innovation, to quote the subtitle. That will be out in April. A title published last year which looks very relevant to our times is Revisiting Keynes, with a terrific list of contributors including Will Baumol, Gary Becker, Ben Friedman, Ed Phelps, Bob Solow and Joe Stiglitz. Finally, on light note, comes Parentonomics by new father Joshua Gans, billed as 'Dr Spock meets Freakonomics'. I like the idea of a new subgenre of comedy economics, if only we can carry it off. Will there be others following the trail blazed by the Stand Up Economist? (http://www.standupeconomist.com/)