The Teaching of Development Economics: Its Position in the Present State of Knowledge. Edited by Kurt Martin and John Knapp. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company, 1967. pp.xv + 236. price $ 7.95.

1968 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 632-635
Author(s):  
Joseph J. Stern

The title of this book unfortunately is misleading, referring only to half the papers presented at the Manchester Conference on Teaching Economic Development, and the least interesting half at that. The first, and by far the most challenging part of the book, consists of Seers' previously published article, "The Limitations of the Special Case". This is followed by a list of twenty 'leading questions' on teaching economics by the same author, and papers by Myint, Hagen, Streeten and Balogh, dealing with various aspects of economic theory and its application to development planning. The last ninety pages of the book are devoted to the discussions which took place at the conference. As might have been expected, these read like a pale imitation of what probably was an interesting exchange of views. Few readers, one suspects, will be sufficiently motivated to work their way through these verbal arguments.

2000 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.J. Kondonassis ◽  
A.G. Malliaris ◽  
T.O. Okediji

The first purpose of this paper is to reveal some insights offered by our experiences in theorizing about development economics and in doing so to shed some light on the current state of economic development. The second purpose of this paper is to review some practices of economic development planning. These practices have initially followed swings in antithetical positions. Yet, it will be argued that eventually development practices have followed a synthetic or evolutionary process. Some of the findings of the paper include that theories and policies have a time and place; that development planning strategies must recognize both the economic and non economic characteristics of less developed countries; that development planning strategies should be country specific.


2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 469-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cosmin Marinescu

The last few decades have seen a significant growth of economists’ interest in studying institutions. They are generally preoccupied with explaining institutions using instruments that are specific for an economist, and especially with discerning the significance of institutions for both economic development and development economics. Therefore, the integration of institutions into economic theory is an essential step in our continuous attempt to refine and improve scientific explanations. The neoclassical theory of economic growth only identifies the conditions needed for material production growth, such as capital accumulation and technical progress. In order to explain ‘why’ people save, invest, learn and seek useful knowledge, special attention must also be paid to institutional and value systems.


Author(s):  
Robert L. Tignor

This chapter evaluates W. Arthur Lewis's article “Economic Development with Unlimited Supplies of Labour,” which the journal Manchester School had published in its 1954 issue and won the Nobel award in 1979. It was unquestionably his outstanding scholarly achievement. The article galvanized the new field of development economics, providing it with a legitimacy that it had not previously enjoyed. Moreover, nearly all of his later studies in economic history bore the imprint of the article. Lewis was not merely the most rigorously trained economist from the less developed world. His publications focused sharply on the critical issues of poverty and development. His ideas were persuasive and compelling, his arguments powerful, and the corpus of his writings suffused with the optimism that marked this era of political decolonization. Of the pioneers of development economics, he was the best synthesizer, the best able to handle multicausal relationships. His book The Theory of Economic Growth masterfully merged economic theory with social and political analysis.


2014 ◽  
pp. 147-153
Author(s):  
P. Orekhovsky

The review outlines the connection between E. Reinert’s book and the tradition of structural analysis. The latter allows for the heterogeneity of industries and sectors of the economy, as well as for the effects of increasing and decreasing returns. Unlike the static theory of international trade inherited from the Ricardian analysis of comparative advantage, this approach helps identify the relationship between trade, production, income and population growth. Reinert rehabilitates the “other canon” of economic theory associated with the mercantilist tradition, F. Liszt and the German historical school, as well as a reconside ration of A. Marshall’s analysis of increasing returns. Empirical illustrations given in the book reveal clear parallels with the path of Russian socio-economic development in the last twenty years.


1991 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-317
Author(s):  
Ziaul Haque

Deveiopment planning in India, as in other developing countries, has generally been aimed at fostering an industrially-oriented policy as the engine of economic growth. This one-sided economic development, which results in capital formation, creation of urban elites, and underprivileged social classes of a modern society, has led to distortions in the social structure as a whole. On the contrary, as a result of this uneven economic development, which is narrowly measured in terms of economic growth and capital formation, the fruits of development have gone to the people according to their economic power and position in the social structure: those occupying higher positions benefiting much more than those occupying the lower ones. Thus, development planning has tended to increase inequalities and has sharpened divisive tendencies. Victor S. D'Souza, an eminent Indian sociologist, utilizing the Indian census data of 1961, 1971, and 1981, examines the problem of structural inequality with particular reference to the Indian Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes - the two most underprivileged sections of the present Indian society which, according to the census of 1981, comprised 15.75 percent and 7.76 percent of India's population respectively. Theoretically, he takes the concept of development in a broad sense as related to the self-fulfIlment of the individual. The transformation of the unjust social structure, the levelling down of glaring economic and social inequalities, and the concern for the development of the underprivileged are for the author the basic elements of a planned development. This is the theoretical perspective of the first chapter, "Development Planning and Social Transformation".


Author(s):  
Viktoriya Bondarenko

The level of economic development of entrepreneurship in any country in the world is crucial in increasing the competitiveness of the national economy in the world market of goods and services. The activities of economic entities are the driving force for the sustainable development of regions and their suburban areas, and they also impact the welfare of population. The article dwells on the analysis of scientific approaches to the regulation of economic development of enterprises in suburban areas of the region. The article analyzes the scientific approaches to the regulation of economic development of enterprises in suburban areas of the region. According to the well-known classics of the fundamental economic theory of entrepreneurship development (A. Smith, D. Ricardo, V. Laungard, A. Loria) the peculiarities of economic development of entrepreneurship in suburban territories of the region are determined by the possibility of distribution of surplus production, minimum production costs per unit of production, availability of labor resources. In modern economic theory (M. Weber, A. Pre, S.M. Kimelberg, E. Williams, C. Vlachou, O. Iakovidou, J. van Dijk, P. Pellenbarg) the development of entrepreneurship in suburban areas of the region can be determined by institutional, innovation, technological, social, ecological and other features of the economy at the regional, state or world levels. The complex and comprehensive generalization of the features of economic development of entrepreneurship in suburban areas is proposed. There are (1) the type of decision taken by an enterprise to carry out business activities in the relevant suburban area of the region, and (2) the influence of internal and external factors on economic activity. The article argues that large enterprises are guided by more objective decision-making reasons, attaching the most importance to the physical and innovative environment. Medium and small enterprises are mainly focused on getting benefits for the entrepreneur in the short-term time period and location in the nearest geographic area. The attention was paid to the tools of ensuring economic development of entrepreneurship in suburban areas of the region, taking into account institutional changes in the national economy and the experience of developed countries of the world.


Author(s):  
Vasyl Papp ◽  
Nelya Boshota

The main task that determines the effective functioning of the country is the formation of a strategy for its socio-economic development based on a long-term innovation strategy. An innovative development strategy of the country is defined as a fundamental, basic element of the overall strategy of socio-economic development. The purpose of the article is to develop the conceptual foundations for shaping the country's socio-economic development strategy in modern conditions, adjusting the priority directions of the strategy and the peculiarities in using the means of achieving the goals, taking into account European experience. The article examines the European practice of developing and implementing the strategy of socio-economic development of the country as the most important instrument of the state's influence on social and economic development. Recommendations on the use of advanced strategic planning tools are developed. It is proved that without the scientific and methodological support of the plan of socio-economic development of the country it is impossible to count on the successful solution of important tasks and the democratization of public relations. The concept of strategy formation is designed to take into account the interests of economic entities and territory and to cover not only the traditionally used sectoral aspect of development, but also the territorial, which includes the creation and development of clusters and special economic zones. European experience shows that transition of a country to an innovative socially oriented type of development requires an increase in the efficiency of the state strategic planning process, the achievement of which is possible only with the co-ordinated activity of state authorities, business structures, science and society. It should be emphasized that in the prevailing conditions there is a need to form a single integrated system of social and economic development planning that optimally combines both the use of strategic planning and the program-target method for solving urgent problems.


Author(s):  
John Toye

As the colonization approach, metropolitan power tried to legitimize their rule by claiming that they aim at economic development. Arthur Lewis criticized the British colonial development plan for lacking comprehensiveness and, in the 1940s, laid out his own manifesto for rapid industrialization. Later, in Manchester University, he wrote the significant 1951 UN report on development and his famous article on development by intersector labour transfer. His controversy with Herbert Frankel did not satisfy the critiques, but became the bible for those who identify development with industrialization. Lewis’s time as a policy advisor to Ghana Kwame Nkrumah left him doubtful about the possibility of successful development planning and he effectively withdrew from the development scene, despite retaining Enlightenment values.


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