WHAT IS DEVELOPMENT? Development Economics

The dictionary definition ‘to develop’ means ‘to improve’, ‘to progress’, ‘to grow. Development means many different things to many different people, which makes it a bit confusing. Development is often dependent on economic growth, but economic growth does not guarantee economic development Development is about improving the quality of the lives of all citizens and particularly disadvantaged people.

Different definitions Dudley Sears defined development as “the reduction and elimination of poverty, inequality and unemployment within a growing economy”.

In essence… But Amartya Sen sees development as being …development economics is concerned with the study of the causes of problems facing those economies where the majority of the population are in absolute poverty, and with finding solutions to those problems in order to raise the quality of life.

Todaro’s objectives Michael Todaro sees development in a wider context. (1)To increase the availability and widen the distribution of basic life-sustaining goods such as food, shelter, health and protection. (2)To raise levels of living, including, in addition to higher incomes, the provision of more jobs, better education, and greater attention to cultural and human values, all of which will serve not only to enhance material well-being but also to generate greater individual and national self-esteem (3)To expand the range of economic and social choices available to individuals and nations by freeing them from servitude and dependence not only in relation to other people and nation-states but also to the forces of ignorance and human misery.

How is development measured ? In a number of ways but the main one you need to know about is the UN HDI- the Human Development Index HDI is an aggregate index of living standards with 3 main components Mean Educational attainment Income (measured by real GDP per capita PPP) Life expectancy at birth

The main focus of HDI is on the “escape from poverty” – defined as an index score of less than 0.5 Most developed economies have a HDI of greater than 0.9 UN also publishes a Human Poverty Index (HPI) for Developed and Economically Less Developed Countries

Some data…

And some less appealing data

For more data visit http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/