Review questions for development economics

1. Briefly describe the various definitions of the term development encountered in the text. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each approach?

2. How does the concept of "capabilities to function" help us gain insight into development goals and achievements? Is money enough? Why or why not?

3. Do you think that there is a strong relationship among health, labor productivity, and income levels? Explain your answer.

4. What is meant by the statement that many developing nations are subject to "dominance, dependence, and vulnerability" in their relations with rich nations? Can you give some examples?

5. What are some additional strengths and weaknesses of the Human Development Index as a comparative measure of human welfare? If you were designing the HDI, what might you do differently, and why?

6. Which measure shows more equality among countries around the world-GNI calculated at exchange rates or GNI calculated at purchasing power parity? Explain

7. Discuss the differences between the traditional HDI in comparison to the New NHDI formulation. In what ways do you think either one is a better measure of human development?

8. Explain the essential distinctions among the stages-of-growth theory of development, the structural-change models of Lewis and Chenery, and the theory of international dependence in both its neo-Marxist and false-paradigm conceptualizations. Which model do you think provides the best explanation of the situation in most developing nations? Explain your answer

9. Some people claim that international dualism and domestic dualism are merely different manifestations of the same phenomenon. What do you think they mean by this, and is it a valid conceptualization? Explain your answer.

10. What is meant by the term neoclassical counterrevolution? What are its principal arguments, and how valid do you think they are? Explain your answer.

11. Is the neoclassical, free-market theory necessarily incompatible with dependence theory? How might these two approaches work together?

12. What role do you think international trade and foreign investment can play in solving some of the problems identified in the big push model? What limitations to your arguments can you think of?

13. Why might high levels of inequality lead to lower rates of growth and development? Why might it be difficult to get out of this kind of trap?

14. Distinguish between size and functional distributions of income in a nation. Which do you conclude is the more appropriate concept? Explain your answer.

15. 3. What is meant by absolute poverty? What measures of income poverty are favored by development economists? How do income poverty measures differ from the UNDP's Multidimensional Poverty Index? Why should we be concerned with the measurement of poverty in developing nations?

16. What is the relationship between a Lorenz curve and a Gini coefficient? Give some examples of how Lorenz curves and Gini coefficients can be used as summary measures of equality and inequality in a nation's distribution of income

17. 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 against the presumed conflict of objectives, and state and explain your own view.

18. 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?

19. 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?

20. Describe briefly the theory of the demographic transition. At what stage in this transition do most developing countries seem to be? Explain your answer

21. 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, giving some specific examples of such incentives and disincentives.

22. "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 deriving from developing countries." Comment on this statement

23. 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?

24. 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.

25. What are the links among educational systems, labor markets, and employment determination in many developing countries? Describe the process of educational job displacement.

26. What is meant by the statement, "The demand for education is a 'derived demand' for high-paying modern-sector job opportunities"?

27. What are the relationships between health and education, on the one hand, and productivity and incomes, on the other?