Development economics is an area of economics which studies issues with regard to low income countries of the world. The analysis in development came to be as a result of the perceived inability of various schools of thought such as Marxist, classical, and neo-classical schools to explain the economic realities that plagued poor countries. This paper tries to see development as a field which emerged throughthe identification of both economic and social problems of poor countries. As Todaro again defined it, development can be put to mean the ability of a nation to achieve 3 core values. These are;
1. Sustenance
2. Self-esteem
3. Freedom from servitudeIf we try to study our economic and social problems, we shall then understand that all of them are indeed subjects under Todaro’s concepts of development.
What are our problems?
After the World War II around 1950, it was possible toclassify countries of the world into 3 categories, the first world countries (western capitalist countries), the second world countries (the socialist soviet states) and the third world countries which were the African, Asian and Latin American countries. The categorization of these countries was basically madewith respect to the 3 concepts that were mentioned earlier. Nations were ranked in terms of their ability tomeet those 3 goals. Africa and of course, Nigeria as athird world country was not so exclusive among those lacking in the journey to achieve sustenance, self esteem and freedom from servitude. Our inability to meet up with human existence have however manifested in the following issues: Poor nutrition, lowincomes, lack of qualitative education, political instability, market imperfections, illiteracy, low productivity among other bedeviling consequences.
The collective action of the problems listed has had asignificant effect on the lives we have been living leading to a wide gap between our countries and the developed countries. Through these years, with the advent of social media we have been coming into much more closer contact with people from developed countries than we did before. Via twitter facebook, whatsapp, instagram and so on we keep seeing pictures from Europe and U.S.A. Many of us have seen how classrooms, meals & political institutions look like in advance countries perhaps with the help of the social interaction we do online.
How do we solve these problems? Knowing it fully that economics is the study of choiceunder conditions of scarcity. It is important to at this juncture appreciate the significance of the study of development economics to include the improvement of standard of living. It is so technical that these developmental challenges happen to be economic problems. Economists are however the key to solvingthe myriad of economic problems. Apart from giving intellectual advises to the government on how to design macroeconomic policies, students especially with the skill in development economics are most suitable in designing models for achieving developmental goals after graduating from the university. To be very clear, the following are potential areas and organizations where students of economics can get employed in order to help solve economic problems;* Budget & Planning Offices* International Organizations such as The UN, MDGs etc* Academia i.e to become university lecturers whom might often be consulted by the government to sort economic issues.
One might wonder how a development economist becomes relevant in the areas that were mentioned. The reason is development economics gives students first hand information on the nature of developing countries, their problems and means of tackling them. For example students are taught to suggest a birth control measure whenever the population is growing far too faster than output.
Our Hopes As I have always stressed on honesty, I believe that our economic dreams would only be achieved when we when abolish ignorance and of course do what it takes from freeing ourselves from servitude.
Haven identified the issues with our countries; we can indeed appreciate the fact that the need for the study of development economics is necessary for solving our problems. As we embark on the study of development then certainly, our dream for building asstrong economic and social structure as that of the industrialized countries will come true.By @MustapherSaeed
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