Economic development
From Wikinfo
Economic development is the development of economic wealth of countries or regions for the well-being of their inhabitants.
The economic development process supposes that legal and institutional adjustments are made to give incentives for innovation and for investments so as to develop an efficient production and distribution system for goods and service.
It is considered by some as a move towards a Western model. It expresses the reasons why we have developing countries. Received economic lore, among others that of capitalism, aims at continued growth and expansion of national economies so that 'developing countries' become 'developed countries' and followers of this school deride any possibility of an economically stable state.
The World Bank promotes economic development and engages in research as to how to efficatiously encourage it.
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Brief overview of recent world economic development
In the last several decades, total GDP and GDP per capita increased in OECD* countries, and in non OECD Eastern Europe and Asia. In contrast, there has been little overall growth in Africa and the Middle East.
OECD is the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Basically OECD are the more advanced economies.
Economic Structure
Service Sector
Since 1970, the majority of economic activity has been in the service sector; 41% in developing countries and 58% in developed countries.
By 2001, 52% of economic activity among developing countries was in service, and 72% of economic activity among developed countries.
Industry
The pattern for industry is complex:
Mainly decline since 1980 in the developed world.
Slight declines in the developing countries of Africa and America, and recent increases in Asia and Oceania.
Agriculture
In 2001, Agriculture was only 11% of economic activity in developing countries, and only 2% in developed countries.
However, agriculture is a very large part of the labor force, particularly in the developing countries, where it accounted for two thirds of the labor force in 1980 and still over one half in 2001.
Agriculture, as an economic activity and in the labor force, is particularly significant in Sub Saharan Africa and Oceania.
Agricultural productivity was very low in less developed countries. This explains why a large part of the labor force was in agriculture but only a small part of the GDP was in agriculture.
Poverty
According to World Bank estimates, there has been an increase in the number of people in poverty in Europe, Central Asia, Latin America and Africa. In contrast, East and South Asia has seen a decline in the number of people in poverty (using $1 a day).
The percent of people in poverty has also increased in Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa, while the percent in poverty declined in East and South Asia and Latin America.
However, poverty is one of the most difficult indicators to measure. Thus, there is no universal agreement on poverty definitions or trends.
See also
Institutions
- Association of Southeast Asian Nations
- International Development Association
- European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
- United Nations Development Programme
External links
- International Economic Development Council International association of community/economic development professionals
- Macroeconomics and Growth
- Economic Growth Resources
- Social Change Project: page of Research Resources on Economic Growth
[[fr:d�veloppement �conomique]]
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Economic_development" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_development, used under the GNU Free Documentation License
Brief review of world economic trends http://gsociology.icaap.org/report/econ/econsum.html
