Topic 1 Flashcards
What are the 4 facets of the economic problem
- resource allocation
- economic efficiency
- full employment of resources
- optimal economic growth
what is development
the process of improving the quality of all human lives and capabilities by raising peoples self esteem, freedom and sustenance
what is development economics
- study of how to increase when structural transformation occurs from ag to industrial economies
- involving increase in real output over long term and a reduction in poverty/inequality
What is meant by multidimensionality when measuring development?
involves more than just income GDP
1. living a long and happy life
2. being well nourished and healthy
3. being literate
4. being well clothed
5. being able to take part in community life
What are the differences in how the old and new version of the HDI are calculated?
The old HDI used arithmetic mean which was easily influenced by outliers meaning that if education performed well, it would offset a poor performance of life expectancy.
The new HDI assigned equal waiting to all 3 indexes
1. Life Expectancy at birth (remains the same)
2. Education Index (changed)
a. Old: adult literacy rate2/3 + Gross enrolment ratio1/3
b. New: mean years of schooling for someone > 25 + Expected years of schooling
3. Income Index (changed)
a. Old: GDP/ capita
b. New: GNI/capita (includes $ from abroad)
what are the the common features (7) of a developing economy
- low levels of living and productivity
- high levels of inequality and absolute poverty
- high population growth rates
- greater social fractionalisation
- large rural populations
- low level industrialisation
- external dependence
Outline the characteristics of the sectors the Lewis Model outlines
This model outlines the transformation from agricultural to industrial sectors
1. Agricultural Sector: low productivity, surplus labour, low wages
2. Industrial Sector: high productivity, shortage labour, high wages
What is the process and outcome of the Lewis Model
- Surplus ag labour goes to industrial sector
- All industrial profits are reinvested to expand productivity
- Capital accumulation increases labour demand
- Once MPL in both sectors equalises then labour migration stops
- As MPL of labour in ag increase (when everyone leaves) their wages rise
Outcomes: Shift from low to high productivity enhances growth and development
WHat is the Lewis turning point
employment expands until surplus is absorbed in modern sector
- Wages in ag sector start to rise so demand to work in it rises
- higher demand means industrial sector must increase wages to retain workers
- both sectors improve wages and working conditions
- firms may invest in tech that you don’t need workers to save on wages
what are the 4 assumptions and their critiques of the lewis model
- Assumes capital is invested in more sophistic labour-saving technology
- Full Employment in modern sector and surplus labour in traditional sector (invalid eg china)
- Constant real urban wage increases until Lewis TP: institutional forces (unions) usually negate competitive forces and urban wages rise over time
- Diminishing return in modern industrial sector (they’re actually increasing)
what is the modern view of development
both governments and markets fail and balance is required
briefly outline the 3 fundamental ingredient of growth
- capital accumulation:mobilising domestic savings and investing in capital
- growth in population
- tech progress
a)Labour Augmenting Tech Progress: higher productivity of existing labour (same output, fewer inputs - horizontal PPF moves out)
b) Capital Augmenting Tech Progress: higher productivity of existing capital (same output, fewer inputs - vertical PPF moves out)
c) Neutral Tech Progress: same inputs makes higher output (both PPFs move out)
What does the SOlow Swan Theory Explain
Kaldors Growth Factors
1. output per head (y) grows over time and growth rate doesn’t tend to diminish
2. capital labour ratio (k) grows over time
3. rate of return to capital is constant
4. capital output ratio (K/Y) is constant
5. the shares of capital and labour are constant
6. growth rate of y differs across countries
why does convergence occur (3)
- tech transfer (imitating other ppl’s products)
- factor accumulations (developing countries have less capital so investments make more profit bc higher MP, so greater growth in capital stock)
- steady state model (the further away your are from steady state the more you grow
what is absolute beta convergence
Each country grows faster the further away they are from their own steady state relative to each other.
Poor countries have a lower steady state, so they are predicted to grow faster if they’re not near their steady state.
Rich countries are closer to their steady state so grow slower.
Countries will eventually converge in their growth.
what does absolute beta convergence assume
that closed countries have the same s, n, x, delta and production function so therefore same steady state
what is conditional beta convergence
each country has their own steady state so they grow faster the further away they are from their own steady state relative to each other. poor countries don’t grow rapidly if they’re already close to their own steady state (now each countries has there own parameters, not all the same steady state)
Do we observe convergence in reality
No evidence of convergence but literature suggests that it is possible, but the speed of convergence is very slow (170 years). Sectoral Convergence between countries with similar levels of growth parameters have similar steady states and can experience convergence in particular sectors.
what is the middle income trap
the U shaped patterns of convergence, middle income countries growing fastest but can’t break out of middle income (poor speeding up but rich slowing down)
what is sectoral convergence
countries can be different but if you make tectiles you’ll have similar tech, difference in tech will be reflected in need for cheaper labour in poor countries which is why more textile making happens there (slow growth of manufacturing sector)
what is exogenous growth theory
exogenous tech given outside of model = source of growth (can’t nalayse determinants of differences in tech b/w countries)
therefore tech is held constant and can’t explain long term growth
what is endogenous growth theory
econ growth is determined within production process. explaining difference in sollow residuals allowing for increasing returns.
public and private investments in human capital generate tech spillovers and productivity improvements
Explain multiple equilibria
as more people enter the market it makes it profitable for the first producer who made the initial investment, every new person spills their knowledge to the first so he benefits
what is the theory of complementarities (multiple equilibria)
eg knowledge
S shaped function (increases at increasing then decreasing rate because some agents take complimentary action when others don’t)
if more agenst invest there are greater spillovers and curve rises faster
after lots of investment, most agents are positively affected and so rate of increase slows this pushes to eql when privatley rational decision curve crosses 45 degree line (=expected)
what is the theory of quality matching
it is better putting all low and all high quality workers together . poor countries invest in less complex tasks
what does de jure and de facto mean
de jure: by law - determined by incentives of politcians
de facto: through lobbying - dtermined by distribution of resources
what are the 2 characteristics of institutions
- shape incentives of key actors and distribution of resource
- endogenous since they are determined by choices of society and political power
what is institutional reversal
Highly urbanised regions before being colonised now are doing worse than low urbanised ex colonies
What are the four principles upon which an inequality measure should be assessed?
Relative income principle, anonymity principle, population principle and Dalton principle because the Lorenz principle is dependent on other principles
explain the 4 principles of inequality measurement
- anonymity principle
- population principle: size of population is irrelevant because the distribution can be normalised
- relative income principle: absolute income levels are not important, only relative Y matters
- Dalton Principle: giving money from rich to poor will decrease inequality (regressive transfer)