An Indian View P C Mahalanobis The subtitle, 'An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations', to Myrdal's book, "The Asian Drama". draws deliberate attention to the sharp contrast between the new era in Europe which confronted Adam Smith when in 1776 he wrote "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations", and the dark future in South Asia today. Myrdal in fact had a dual motivation in writing this book: first, an involvement in human problems, and secondly, a scientific interest in the reasons for the lack of development in South Asia.