Economic development - Definition and Overview

Economic development is the development of economic wealth of countries or regions for the well-being of their inhabitants.

The economic development process supposes that legal and institutional adjustments are made to give incentives for innovation and for investments so as to develop an efficient production and distribution system for goods and service.

It is considered by some as a move towards a Western model. It expresses the reasons why we have developing countries. Received economic lore, among others that of capitalism, aims at continued growth and expansion of national economies so that 'developing countries' become 'developed countries' and followers of this school deride any possibility of an economically stable state.

See also

• Development economics
• Development aid
• Important publications in economic development

Institutions

• Association of Southeast Asian Nations
• International Development Association
• European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
• United Nations Development Programme

External links

• International Economic Development Council (http://www.iedconline.org/) International association of community/economic development professionals
• Macroeconomics and Growth (http://econ.worldbank.org/programs/macroeconomics/)
• Economic Growth Resources (http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Economics/Growth/)
• Social Change Project: page of Research Resources on Economic Growth (http://gsociology.icaap.org/research.html)