Limits to Growth and Development

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Limits to growth and development Posted on June 19, 2011 Economic growth is measured in terms of changes in real GDP. However, economic development cannot be defined so precisely. It is a multidimensional concept which refers to changes in living standards and welfare over time. Unlike economic growth, economic development is a normative concept dependant on value judgements. In order to provide some measure of development, various composite measures are used. The most common of these is the human development index (HDI), which includes GDP per head (measured at PPP), health (measured in terms of life expectancy) and education (measured in terms of school enrolment ratio and literacy rate). However, this is a narrow measure of development because it ignore a range of other indicators such as: * the proportion of the population with access to clean water * the proportion of the working population employed in agriculture * energy consumption per person * proportion of households with internet access * mobile phones per thousand of population Constraints on growth an development While all countries face restraints on growth and development, there is an enormous difference in the scale of the constraints affecting developed and developing countries. Further, the problems facing any particular developing or developed country vary considerably. It is important to have some knowledge of particular countries in order to give relevant examples. This article and the next will focus primarily on problems facing developing countries. Primary product dependency Primary products may be divided into hard commodities, such as copper, tin and iron ore and soft commodities, such as most agricultural crops – wheat, palm oil, rice and fruit. A range of issues face countries dependant on primary products, including the following: * Price fluctuations: given

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