Dr. Jayantha Kelegama was the first Professor of Economics at the University of Kelaniya which was known at the time as Vidyalankara University. As a distinguished economist, he served his country in numerous ways as an academic, a Central Banker, a policy advisor, a researcher and a writer for over four decades encompassing two conflicting policy regimes, i.e., the pre-1977 closed economy and the post-1977 open economy.
The book with 625 pages covers a wide range of economic policies and issues, including those which have been rarely addressed in the Sri Lankan development literature, and presented with well-balanced analyses is, indeed, a great tribute to Dr. Jayantha Kelegama. The introductory chapter by the editor contains two sections that provides the biography of Dr. Kelegama and introduces the rest of the chapters authored by distinguished economists.
There are 21 chapters organized under 9 parts as follows: 1. Issues on Economic Policy Making; 2. Reflections on Policy Making in a Closed Economy; 3. Transition to an Open Economy: Consolidating Gains and Lessons; 4. Macroeconomy: Fiscal and Monetary Policy; 5. Macroeconomy: Emerging Issues; 6. Industrialization and Infrastructure; 7. Agriculture and Food; 8. Poverty: Role of Microfinance and Microenterprises; 9. Social Transitions.