Questions and Answers of Development Economics

“The major determinant of a country’s income distribution is its distribution of productive and income-earning assets.” Explain the meaning of this statement, giving examples of different kinds
Are rapid economic growth (as measured by either GNI or per capita GNI) and a more equal distribution of personal income necessarily conflicting objectives? Summarize the arguments both for and
How might inequality lead to faster growth or development?How might it lead to slower growth or development?
Is progress being made in the fight against poverty? Why or why not?
What types of poverty policies have proved effective?
Economic growth is said to be a necessary but not sufficient condition to eradicate absolute poverty and reduce inequality. What is the reasoning behind this argument?
Outline the range of major policy options for altering and modifying the size distribution of their national income. Which policies do you believe are absolutely essential? Explain your answer.
Population growth in developing nations has proceeded at unprecedented rates over the past few decades. Compare and contrast the present rate of population growth in less developed countries with
What is the relationship between the age structure of a population and its dependency burden? Is the dependency burden higher or lower in developing countries? Why?
Explain the notion of the hidden momentum of population growth. Why is this an important concept for projecting future population trends in different developing nations?
Describe briefly the theory of the demographic transition. At what stage in this transition do most developing countries seem to be? Explain your answer.
How does the microeconomic theory of fertility relate to the theory of consumer choice? Do you think that economic incentives and disincentives influence family size decisions? Explain your answer,
“The world population problem is not just a matter of expanding numbers but also one of rising affluence and limited resources. It is as much a problem caused by developed nations as it is one
List and briefly describe the principal causes of high population growth in developing countries and the major consequences.
Explain why fertility rates are falling much more rapidly in some developing countries than in others.
Outline and comment briefly on some of the arguments against the idea that population growth is a serious problem in developing nations.
Outline and comment briefly on some of the arguments in support of the idea that population growth is a serious problem in developing nations.
Outline and comment briefly on the various policy options available to developing countries’ governments in their attempt to modify or limit the rate of population growth.
Why might the problem of rapid urbanization be a more significant population policy issue than curtailing population growth rates over the next two decades for most developing countries? Explain your
Describe briefly the essential assumptions and major features of the Todaro model of rural-urban migration. One of the most significant implications of this model is the paradoxical conclusion that
“The key to solving the serious problem of excessive rural-urban migration and rising urban unemployment and underemployment in developing countries is to restore a proper balance between urban and
For many years, the conventional wisdom of development economics assumed an inherent conflict between the objectives of maximizing output growth and promoting rapid industrial employment growth.
What is meant by the expression “getting prices right”? Under what conditions will eliminating factor price distortions generate substantial new employment opportunities? (Be sure to define
The informal sector is becoming an ever-larger part of the urban economy. Distinguish between the urban formal and informal sectors, and discuss both the positive and the negative aspects of the
Why are primate cities—generally the capital—often disproportionately large in many developing countries? Which factors can be addressed with better policies?
What is an industrial district? How might governments of developing countries help them succeed?
What reasons would you give for the rather sizable school dropout rates in developing countries?What might be done to lower these rates?
What are the differences between formal and nonformal education? Give some examples of each.
It is often asserted that educational systems in developing countries, especially in rural areas, are unsuited to the real social and economic needs of development. Do you agree or disagree with this
How would you explain the fact that relative costs of and returns to higher education are so much higher in developing than in developed countries?
What is the supposed rationale for subsidizing higher education in many developing countries?Do you think that it is a legitimate rationale from an economic viewpoint? Explain your answer.
Early-childhood environmental factors are said to be important determinants of school performance.What are some of these factors, how important do you think they are, and what might be done to ensure
What do we mean by the economics of education?To what extent do you think educational planning and policy decisions ought to be guided by economic considerations? Explain, giving hypothetical or
What is meant by the statement “The demand for education is a ‘derived demand’ for high-paying modern-sector job opportunities”?
What are the links among educational systems, labor markets, and employment determination in many developing countries? Describe the process of educational job displacement.
Distinguish carefully between private and social benefits and costs of education. What economic factors give rise to the wide divergence between private and social benefit-to-cost valuations in most
Describe and comment on each of the following education-development relationships:a. Education and economic growth: Does education promote growth? How?b. Education, inequality, and poverty: Do
Governments can influence the character, quality, and content of their educational systems by manipulating important economic and noneconomic factors or variables both outside of and within
What explains the large gains in health and education in recent decades?
Why are health and education so closely linked in the development challenge?
What are the most pressing health and education challenges today? What makes them so difficult to solve?
What makes for:(a) A good and fair health system and(b) A good and fair education system?
What are the consequences of gender bias in health and education? Can a large gap between male and female literacy affect development?Why?
What is the human capital approach to health and education? What do you think are its most important strengths and weaknesses?
What are the strategies being discussed to address the problem of child labor? What are the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches?
What are the relationships between health and education, on the one hand, and productivity and incomes, on the other?
What can government do to make health systems more equitable?
Why should any analysis of development problems place heavy emphasis on the study of agricultural systems, especially peasant agriculture, and the rural sector?
What are the principal reasons for the relative stagnation of developing-country agriculture in Africa?How can this disappointing performance be improved on in the future? Explain your answer.
Discuss three main systems of agriculture found in the developing world. To what extent are these systems concentrated in three major developing regions?
Compare and contrast the nature of peasant or small-scale traditional agriculture in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. How do overall agricultural systems differ among these regions? What are the
Explain the meaning of Gunnar Myrdal’s quote at the beginning of this chapter: “It is in the agricultural sector that the battle for long-term economic development will be won or lost.”
It is sometimes asserted that small peasant farmers are backward and ignorant because they seem to resist agricultural innovations that could raise farm yields substantially. Does this resistance
We described three stages in the transition from subsistence to specialized agriculture. What are the principal characteristics of each of these stages?
There appears to be widespread agreement that in regions where the distribution of land ownership is highly unequal (mainly Latin America but also parts of Asia), land reform is a necessary but not
What is meant by comprehensive or integrated rural development? What criteria would you use to decide whether or not such integrated rural development was or was not taking place?
What explains sharecropping? To what extent do you think your explanation justifies the practice?
If land reform is efficient, why do you think it is not more commonly implemented?
Why is a proper understanding of risks faced by smallholder farmers of such fundamental importance to agricultural development policy?
Explain the argument that effective agricultural policies center around the role of women.
The poorest farmers tend to work on farms with the poorest soil and water conditions. Do you think this is the cause, the effect, or both?
Is sustainable development a practical and feasible goal for nations? What might be some of the difficulties and possible trade-offs? Explain your answer.
In what ways does poverty lead to environmental degradation? In what way are the poor victims?Specifically, provide two examples of how the poor sometimes degrade the natural resources on which they
What types of environmental problems do the rural and urban poor share? What are some differences in the conditions they face?
How are population growth, poverty, and land pressures interrelated? Explain how these problems can create a vicious circle of events.
What steps might governments in less developed countries take to reduce overexploitation of natural resources? What impact do pricing policies have?
Why are national environmental concerns in developing countries likely to focus increasingly on urban problems in the future? How are urban conditions related to rural-to-urban migration?
Why are the objectives of economic development and sustainable growth mutually reinforcing?
In what ways does neoclassical theory provide a useful framework for analyzing environmental issues?What are some of its limitations?
What are some of the costs associated with environmental degradation? How might they detract from economic growth? What are the developmental implications?
Why are children more susceptible than adults to health risks posed by their environment?
In what ways can developed nations best contribute to the alleviation of global and domestic environmental problems? Be specific.
Explain the difference between purely private and public goods and how it applies to environmental problems faced by developing countries. What are the implications of the free-rider problem for
What is the environmental Kuznets curve? What factors may make it plausible? In what cases does it seem implausible?
How is climate change expected to impact countries in Asia and Africa? What policies in developed and developing countries may help address these problems?
How do farmers in developing countries adapt to climate change that they experience?
What are the main ideas of environmental accounting?If practiced, what effects would you expect to see?
What are natural resources–based livelihoods and how are they threatened?
What are common property resources; what economic incentive problems do they face; and how have some communities successfully overcome these problems?
Why do you think so many developing countries were convinced of the necessity of development planning? Were the reasons strictly economic?Comment.
Explain and comment on some of the major arguments or rationales, both economic and noneconomic, for planning in developing economies.
Planning is said to be more than just the formulation of quantitative economic targets. It is often described as a process. What is meant by the planning process, and what are some of its basic
Compare and contrast the three basic types of planning models: aggregate growth models, inputoutput analysis, and project appraisal. What do you think are some of the strengths and weaknesses of
There is much talk today about the demise of development planning. Many observers assert that development planning has been a failure. List and explain some of the major reasons for plan
Distinguish between market failure and government failure. Does rent-seeking behavior occur only as a result of government failure? Explain your answer.
What are some of the difficulties associated with the establishment of market economies in developing countries? In what type of country is the market more likely to succeed? Why?
What do you think should be the role of the state in contemporary developing countries? Is the choice between markets and government an either-or choice? Explain your answer.
What features of the political process make effective development policymaking so difficult?
Why is development participation not used more often despite its potentially decisive role in ensuring the success of development policies?
Do you think that setting goals for development could in itself help a developing nation to achieve those goals? Why or why not?
Discuss the potential role of NGOs in relation to the government and private sectors.
Discuss the components of the original Washington Consensus. What do you think was most lacking from this framework? What important factors have achieved widespread acceptance in the evolution toward
The effects of international trade on a country’s development are often related to four basic economic concepts: efficiency, growth, equity, and stability.Briefly explain what is meant by each of
Compare and contrast the classical labor cost theory of comparative advantage with the neoclassical factor endowment theory of international trade. Be sure to include an analysis of both assumptions
Briefly summarize the major conclusions of the traditional theory of free trade with regard to its theoretical effects on world and domestic efficiency, world and domestic economic growth, world and
Proponents of free trade, primarily developed country economists, argue that the liberalization of trading relationships between rich and poor countries (the removal of tariff and nontariff barriers)
Traditional free-trade theories are based on six crucial assumptions, which may or may not be valid for developing nations (or for developed nations for that matter). What are these crucial
Traditional free-trade theory is basically a static theory of international exchange leading to certain conclusions about the benefits likely to accrue to all participants. Explain the dynamic
Critics of international trade from developing countries sometimes claim that present trading relationships between developed and underdeveloped countries can be a source of “antidevelopment” for
Manufactures now account for a majority of exports from the developing world. What factors have limited the benefits that developing countries receive from this progress?

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