Econ 181 : Economic Development Theory And Policy

Homework 1 instructions:
Please answer the following questions. Homework is due at the beginning of class on October 26th. No homework submissions via email will be accepted. Here are the first 8 (out of 10) questions for homework 1.
1. Why is a strictly economic definition of development inadequate? Give another definition of development using Amartya Sen’s capability approach and the three core values of development as identified in the textbook. Can you give hypothetical or real examples of situations in which a country may be developing economically but may still be underdeveloped?

2. Describe what the New Human Development Index is, and each of its dimension indices. Is PPP GNI per capita an adequate measure of development or is the HDI preferred? Defend your answer.

3. List 5 of the 10 characteristics that are common to all developing countries. Describe each in turn, explaining how these commonalities create barriers to economic development.

4. Why don’t developing countries today simply adopt the same methods that the nowdeveloped countries adopted when they were developing? Describe 4 of the 8 differences in initial conditions between the now-developed countries and the developing countries today.

5. Refer to the figure below. In which country, Country 1 or Country 2, is inequality worse? Suppose the area A2=2700. Calculate the Gini coefficient for Country 2. Give three reasons why extreme inequality hinders economic development.

6. Using the following formula  and assuming a poverty line of 125, use the numbers in the table below to calculate P0, P1 and P2 for the country of Antea. Assume only these 7 people live in the country. Explain the conceptual difference between P0, P1 and P2. If you were to transfer 9 dollars from person 5 to person 4, would P0, P1 or P2 change? Why or why not?

7. Using the idea of Dualistic Development, describe the three different growth typologies and their subsequent impact on absolute poverty and income inequality.

8. Describe the different components of the Multidimensional Poverty Index and by what criteria an individual is identified as being multidimensionally poor.

9. TBA from the next Chapter, will update

10. TBA from the next Chapter, will update

Econ 181 : Economic Development Theory And Policy

Homework 1 instructions:
Please answer the following questions. Homework is due at the beginning of class on October 26th. No homework submissions via email will be accepted. Here are the first 8 (out of 10) questions for homework 1.
1. Why is a strictly economic definition of development inadequate? Give another definition of development using Amartya Sen’s capability approach and the three core values of development as identified in the textbook. Can you give hypothetical or real examples of situations in which a country may be developing economically but may still be underdeveloped?

2. Describe what the New Human Development Index is, and each of its dimension indices. Is PPP GNI per capita an adequate measure of development or is the HDI preferred? Defend your answer.

3. List 5 of the 10 characteristics that are common to all developing countries. Describe each in turn, explaining how these commonalities create barriers to economic development.

4. Why don’t developing countries today simply adopt the same methods that the nowdeveloped countries adopted when they were developing? Describe 4 of the 8 differences in initial conditions between the now-developed countries and the developing countries today.

5. Refer to the figure below. In which country, Country 1 or Country 2, is inequality worse? Suppose the area A2=2700. Calculate the Gini coefficient for Country 2. Give three reasons why extreme inequality hinders economic development.

6. Using the following formula  and assuming a poverty line of 125, use the numbers in the table below to calculate P0, P1 and P2 for the country of Antea. Assume only these 7 people live in the country. Explain the conceptual difference between P0, P1 and P2. If you were to transfer 9 dollars from person 5 to person 4, would P0, P1 or P2 change? Why or why not?

7. Using the idea of Dualistic Development, describe the three different growth typologies and their subsequent impact on absolute poverty and income inequality.

8. Describe the different components of the Multidimensional Poverty Index and by what criteria an individual is identified as being multidimensionally poor.

9. TBA from the next Chapter, will update

10. TBA from the next Chapter, will update