In this chapter, students will be able to understand: State some comparative statistics on rich and poor countries, differentiate growth from development and explain how those differences affect macroeconomic policy, explain the particular problems of monetary policy in a developing country context, list seven obstacles facing developing countries. | Lecture 4 Measuring Economic Growth and Development The Process of Economic Development Last lecture we said: The major question that development economics attempts to answer is why some countries are more developed than others? But before we start trying to provide answers for this question, first we need to know what we mean by “being developed”? What do we mean by “development”? How do we measure development? Is Development synonymous simply with Economic Growth? Different Development Goals of Society Equality of opportunity Rising income and standard of living Equity in the distribution of income and wealth Political democracy and wide-spread participation Expanded role for women, minorities and all social classes in public life Increased opportunities for education and self-improvement Expanded availability of and improvements in health care Public and private safety nets to protect the vulnerable A clean and healthy environment Efficient, competent and fairly administered public sector A reasonable degree of competition in the private sector Each one these goals stated up here can be important targets – although maybe with different weights – for the process of development of a country. Yet if we wanted to compare countries with one another in terms of all these criteria, imagine how complex and difficult the comparison would turn out to be. High-quality growth Over the 1990s, the IMF seemed slowly to be learning from the criticisms of its policies Now, the IMF sees itself as promoting so-called `high-quality growth’, “defined as growth that is sustainable, brings lasting gains in employment and living standards and reduces poverty. High-quality growth should promote greater equity and equality of opportunity. It should respect human freedom and protect the environment. Obviously, growth cannot be high quality . if it does not benefit fully, tangibly, and equitably a group that constitutes more than one half the population of the world and still | Lecture 4 Measuring Economic Growth and Development The Process of Economic Development Last lecture we said: The major question that development economics attempts to answer is why some countries are more developed than others? But before we start trying to provide answers for this question, first we need to know what we mean by “being developed”? What do we mean by “development”? How do we measure development? Is Development synonymous simply with Economic Growth? Different Development Goals of Society Equality of opportunity Rising income and standard of living Equity in the distribution of income and wealth Political democracy and wide-spread participation Expanded role for women, minorities and all social classes in public life Increased opportunities for education and self-improvement Expanded availability of and improvements in health care Public and private safety nets to protect the vulnerable A clean and healthy environment Efficient, competent and fairly .
