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Economic Growth vs. Economic Development
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Introduction Economic development is a fairly new concept that came about during the early twentieth century. Some theorists have argued that Karl Marx introduced this concept as early as 1887. In his book “Capital”, Karl Marx mentioned that development is a process through which societies move and change. During the last century, several theorists attempted to define economic development and to differentiate it from the concept of economic growth. In my analysis of these two concepts, I will examine the perspectives of two development economists, Gerald Meier and Dudley Seers. I will summarize both economists’ views on economic development and economic growth and determine how these two concepts differ from each other. Meiers Views on Economic Development & Economic Growth Meier’s definition of economic development is as follows: “Economic development is the process whereby the real per capita income of a country increasse over a long period of time – subject to the stipulations that the number of people below an ‘absolute poverty line’ does not increase, and that the distribution of income does not become more unequal.” Meier speaks of economic development as a process. As mentioned earlier, in the late 19th century Karl Marx described development as a ‘process’. In economics, we normally think of economic processes involving factors both internal and external to the economic system. External forces refer to factors such as international prices, production and demand. While internal forces include domestic production and domestic economic policy.
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