Economic Growth and Development

884 Words2 Pages

Economic growth is a necessary but not sufficient condition of

economic development.

There is no single definition that encompasses all the aspects of

economic development. The most comprehensive definition perhaps of

economic development is the one given by Todaro:

‘Development is not purely an economic phenomenon but rather a multi –

dimensional process involving reorganization and re orientation of the

entire economic and social system.

Development is a process of improving the quality of all human lives

with three equally important aspects. These are:

1. Raising peoples’ living levels, i.e. incomes and consumption,

levels of food, medical services, education through relevant

growth processes.

2. Creating conditions conducive to the growth of peoples’ self

esteem through the establishment of social, political and economic

systems and institutions which promote human dignity and respect.

3. Increasing peoples’ freedom to choose by enlarging the range of

their choice variables.’

Economic growth may be defined as an increase in a country's ability

to produce goods and services. Economic growth merely refers to an

increase in the real Gross Domestic Product, or GDP per capita over a

period of time.

It is natural to be misled by the idea that economic growth is the key

to economic development and perhaps a condition of development itself,

but development is more than simply increasing economic output i.e.

GDP per capita. It is a wider concept than economic growth. A

country's economy may experience real growth of GDP with no economic

development taking place. Nevertheless, wider more meaningful

indicators of development are often correlated with GDP per capita,

such as The ...

... middle of paper ...

... toll on the quality of life of citizens.

Thus it is evident that economic development does not always lead to

an improvement in living standards, due to its limited scope and

inability to impact the non materialistic aspects of human life.

Bibliography:

- http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5000372316

- http://www.bized.ac.uk/learn/economics/development/growth/index.htm

- http://www.msu.edu/user/smythdav/growth.htm

- Morris, Arthur, (1998).Geography and Development, London, UCL Press,

LTD.

- http://www.chiptaylor.org/notes/2004/05/flammang_1979_economic_growth_vs_

economic_development.html

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_of_living

- http://www.bized.ac.uk/virtual/dc/farming/theory/th3.htm

- http://www.nobel.se/economics/laureates/1998/sen-autobio.html

- http://www.bized.ac.uk/virtual/dc/copper/theory/th8.htm

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