Question: How does economic growth lead to economic development?
Hallo everybody !!
I know many of y’all may be unclear on how to tackle questions related to development economics, which is one of the 2 topics tested for paper 2 (DRQ) as the usual lectures could not be held due to COIVD. So today I’m just gonna give some general guidelines on how to address questions related to economic development so hopefully ya’ll can approach your paper 2 with greater understanding :))
So first let’s start off with the difference between economic growth and economic development. In econs it is always important to go back to their definitions so what are they?
Economic growth: Sustained increase in real GDP in an economy over time
Economic development: Sustained increase in standard of living in an economy over time
Although it is important to differentiate between these two concepts, it is equally important to understand that they are extremely interconnected. in order to better answer DRQ questions. Do note that for DRQ questions, it is key to remain close to the text in order to score for analysis and application. It is often very obvious in the texts how economic growth is met through increasing GDP, increasing revenue and technology in the domestic industries etc. But in order to score in development questions, an explicit link to economic development must be made.
For reference this is the markscheme for part (d) questions, ideally you should aim to score a level 3 and 6-8 marks / 8
As seen in the markscheme you need to have effective analysis and application. The texts given in the paper 2 questions generally state the point of the policy or the issue in layman terms. Paper 2 is supposed to assess how students can apply their knowledge of economics theory to the real world. Also note that the question asks students to Use information from the text/data and your own knowledge of economics. I generally like to use points from the text and analyse their impacts using the economic development concepts from my own knowledge.
For example, I would like to refer to the M19/HP2/TZ0 paper. The questions states “Discuss the extent to which continued economic growth may lead to economic development in Kenya”. I would like to focus on paragraph 1 of the text which states “The World Bank projected 5.9% economic growth in 2016, rising to 6% in 2017” and also states several reasons such as “low oil prices, growth in the agricultural sector, expansionary monetary policy and ongoing infrastructure investments”
If I were to approach this question, I would pick out the two concepts in bold and explain it using economic concepts, addressing the question’s demands of using both the text and my own knowledge.So how can we analyse the information in the question to help us answer the question?
Firstly, an increase in real GDP would lead to an increase in income for the population, focusing on lower income families as this is a development question. Due to the dependence on primary products in LEDCs, (Remember! Characteristics of LEDCs!) the growth in the agricultural sector (use of text) will lead to increased revenue for these low income families, which increases their disposable income and allows them to more easily purchase basic necessities and goods (own knowledge), leading to economic development Secondly, increase in real GDP would increase government revenue from taxation (own knowledge), which would enable them to have more revenue to invest in infrastructure (use of text). This will lead to the construction of more roads, power lines, water pipes (Remember! Definition of infrastructure!) which will lead to a greater accessibility and standard of living for lower income families (own knowledge), leading to economic development.
As can be seen, it is important to constantly refer to the text, reinforce ideas given by the text will your own knowledge to show the marker you know your stuff and ALWAYS link it back to what is economic development, which is an increase in standard of living. It is also important to remember the key development concepts (characteristics of LEDCs and infrastructure in the given e.g.) which can help to boost your analysis of the text!
I hope this short example today can help y’all understand the demands of a part (d) development economics question, and give y’all more confidence in this topic. If y’all have any other econs questions to be sure to send them in ya :)) Thanks everyone!!
Author: Underdog
