The red thread

Economic development narratives have traditionally been written by academics and policy-makers, for academics and policy-makers. So too the story of Bangladeshi development: a story of alternately success and hardship. By focusing on the economic narrative of those directly affected by development, this thesis aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of how economic narratives influence development as well as of what economic narratives are conceivable. This is done by analyzing ten semi-structured interviews with garment workers in Dhaka. The main conclusion is that there are signs of agency in authorship of the economic development narrative, but that the authorship agency is heavily suppressed. Policy implications include acknowledging creative freedom and authorship agency as important capabilities to reach free and inclusive development.