Posted: November 29th, 2015

Mini Academic Essay

Using the reading material provided and WRITE notes of 100 words, write a short essay on the following question:

‘Development is only concerned with the economic growth of a country’ Discuss

Word Count: 520 words

Please make sure that:

you provide in-text citations (APA) for all sources used

you create a bibliography from the details given ON THE CONTEXT OF ESSAY.

TEXT 1

Title of book: ‘Beyond Economic Growth’

Authors: James Keane & Sheila Mallon

Date of Publication: 2010

Publisher: Garnet

Place of Publication: Reading page:54

1. What is Development?

Are you sure that you know what “development” really means with respect to different countries? And can you determine which countries are more developed and which are less?

It is somewhat easier to say which countries are richer and which are poorer. But indicators of wealth, which reflect the quantity of resources available to a society, provide no information about the allocation of those resources–for instance, about more or less equitable distribution of income among social groups, about the shares of resources used to provide free health and education services, and about the effects of production and consumption on people’s environment. Thus it is no wonder that countries with similar average incomes can differ substantially when it comes to people’s quality of life: access to education and health care, employment opportunities, availability of clean air and safe drinking water, the threat of crime, and so on. With that in mind, how do we determine which countries are more developed and which are less developed?

Goals and Means of Development

Different countries have different priorities in their development policies. But to compare their development levels, you would first have to make up your mind about what development really means to you, what it is supposed to achieve. Indicators measuring this achievement could then be used to judge countries’ relative progress in development.

Is the goal merely to increase national wealth, or is it something more subtle? Improving the well-being of the majority of the population? Ensuring people’s freedom? Increasing their economic security?1

TEXT 2

Title of book: Sustaining development in the twenty first century.

Authors: Neil Richards & Lucy Goater

Date of Publication: 2010

Publisher: UOP

Place of Publication: Oxford page:98

Recent United Nations documents emphasize “human development,” measured by life expectancy, adult literacy, access to all three levels of education, as well as people’s average income, which is a necessary condition of their freedom of choice. In a broader sense the notion of human development incorporates all aspects of individuals’ well-being, from their health status to their economic and political freedom. According to the HumanDevelopment Report 1996, published by the United Nations Development Program, “human development is the end–economic growth a means.”

It is true that economic growth, by increasing a nation’s total wealth, also enhances its potential for reducing poverty and solving other social problems. But history offers a number of examples where economic growth was not followed by similar progress in human development. Instead growth was achieved at the cost of greater inequality, higher unemployment, weakened democracy, loss of cultural identity, or overconsumption of natural resources needed by future generations. If environmental and social/human losses resulting from economic growth turn out to be higher than economic benefits (additional incomes earned by the majority of the population), the overall result for people’s well-being becomes negative. Thus such economic growth becomes difficult to sustain politically.

TEXT 3

Authors: Andrew Smith & Helen Rowling

Website: www. Developing countries.com

Title: The role of policy in developing countries page:62

Sustainable development is a term widely used by politicians all over the world, even though the notion is still rather new and lacks a uniform interpretation. The concept of sustainable development is still being developed and the definition of the term is constantly being revised, extended, and refined.

According to the classical definition given by the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987, development is sustainable if it “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” It is usually understood that this “intergenerational” equity would be impossible to achieve in the absence of present-day social equity, if the economic activities of some groups of people continue to jeopardize the well-being of people belonging to other groups or living in other parts of the world. Imagine, for example, that emissions of greenhouse gases, generated mainly by highly industrialized countries, lead to global warming and flooding of certain low-lying islands–resulting in the displacement and impoverishment of entire island nations.

Sustainable” development could probably be otherwise called “equitable and balanced,” meaning that, in order for development to continue indefinitely, it should balance the interests of different groups of people, within the same generation and among generations, and do so simultaneously in three major interrelated areas-–economic, social, and environmental.

TEXT 4

Authors: no authors stated

Website: http://www.educationalpathwaysinternational.org/?page_id=97

Title: What is a Developing Country?

There are significant social and economic differences between developed and developing countries. Many of the underlying causes of these differences are rooted in the long history of development of such nations and include social, cultural and economic variables, historical and political elements, international relations, and geographical factors.

According to the UN, a developing country is a country with a relatively low standard of living, undeveloped industrial base, and moderate to low Human Development Index (HDI). This index is a comparative measure of poverty, literacy, education, life expectancy, and other factors for countries worldwide. The index was developed in 1990 by Pakistani economist MahbubulHaq, and has been used since 1993 by the United Nations Development Programme in its annual Human Development Report.

The HDI measures the average achievements in a country in two basic dimensions of human development:

A long and healthy life, as measured by life expectancy at birth.Knowledge, as measured by the adult literacy rate (with two-thirds weight) and the combined primary, secondary, and tertiary gross enrollment ratio (with one-third weight).

Development entails a modern infrastructure (both physical and institutional), and a move away from low value added sectors such as agriculture and natural resource extraction. Developed countries usually have economic systems based on continuous, self-sustaining economic growth and high standards of living.