WK 11.1 Social development is economic development

Elected officials, chambers of commerce, and various industry groups talk about the importance of economic development. Economic development is a process of targeted activities and programs that work to improve the economic wellbeing and quality of life of a community by building local wealth, diversifying the economy, creating and retaining jobs, and building the local tax base. However, the fundamental goal of economic development is not economic growth, but improvement in human welfare, what we often call human development, or social development. By any sensible measure of human development, the postwar development effort has been an astonishing success. Furthermore, the economic part of it could be thought to be relatively straightforward. Surely, a steady rise in per capita income as conventionally measures is an anchor, while necessary, is certainly not sufficient for development, and even for economic development. The distribution of this rising income among the population is legitimately in the domain of economic development. Two key features of the distribution of income are inequality and poverty. If average income rises but the inequality of its distribution also increases, then an egalitarian perspective would mark down the latter as a negative aspect of economic development. If poverty, the population below a socially acceptable level of income, also increases then this is another negative mark to be set against rising average income in assessing economic development. Of course, the actual outcome on poverty will depend on an interaction between average income and inequality and which of the two forces dominates empirically.

Clearly, economic development efforts are important to a community, and even more so in our rural resort environment due to our unique economic challenges. A proactive approach to helping business and entrepreneurs also directly helps our communities, keeping our towns and our valley as a great place to live, work, and play, now and into the future.

Do you think if higher average income is accompanied by increasingly unequal distribution, an egalitarian perspective will qualify it as negative?

Hanane Ben Abdeslam

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

W4. Millennium Development Goals / Lee Se Hyun

Summary The Millennium Development Goals were established under the International Development Goals. Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs, sought 191 U.N. member states and more than 22 international organizations to achieve their goals by 2015. MDGs have promoted the development of the international community. Poverty, hunger eradication, universal education level, gender equality, disease, environment and development of developing countries were targeted. However, it has been criticized for lack of legitimacy, neglect of female inequality in employment, and uneven achievement rate, but it has contributed a lot to many equal development. Interesting point I knew that international politics was carried out in a complex and selfish atmosphere. However, upon encountering the MDGs, I learned that the international community is making great efforts to ensure human rights. Among the MDG criticisms, criticism of women's inequality was interesting. The phenomenon of female ineq...
Read more

What is meant by that? / Lee hayoung

Q. Society is not determined by technology, nor is technology determined by society. Both emerge as two sides of the sociotechnical coin. What is meant by that? A. So to begin with, I think that society and technology are the relationships that influence each other, the concepts that one cannot include or dominate. There is technology in society, and technology exists because there is society. I think it's an inseparable relationship, so I think it can be expressed in both sides of a coin.
Read more

W10. Human_rights / Lee Se Hyun

Summary Human rights are the basic right to live as a person. This is an absolute domain. Applicable regardless of ethnicity, gender, age, or location and guaranteed by international law. Human rights have been modified and established over a long period of time. From ancient times to the post-World War II international human rights treaties, various changes and considerations continued. Since the 1966 Human Rights Treaty, the concept of human rights has been established and human rights are guaranteed at the international level through the UN, an international organization. Also, various efforts are made to ensure human rights in the community. Human rights organizations are established in continental units such as Africa, America, Asia, and Europe, to strive for the self-reliance of the vulnerable classes and countries. Human beings have studied human rights for a long time. Thus, the theory of human rights exists, and there are various views on human rights. Interesting point ...
Read more