Notes for a Course in Development Economics

Notes for a Course in Development EconomicsDebrajRayVersion , 1 IntroductionOpen a book any book on the Economics of developing countries, and it will begin withthe usual litany of woes. Developing countries, notwithstanding the enormous strides theyhave made in the last few decades, display fundamental economic inadequacies in a widerange of indicators. Levels of physical capital per person are small. Nutrition levels are indicators of human capital such as education both at the primary and secondaylevels are well below developed-country benchmarks. So are access to sanitation, safewater and housing. Population growth rates are high, and so are infant mortality rates. Onecould expand this list that some of these indicators infant mortality or life expectancy, for instance may be regarded asdefiningfeatures of underdevelopment, so in this respect the list abovemay be viewed, not as a statement of correlations, but as a definition of what we mean bydevelopment (or the lack of it).

CHAPTER 1 Introduction Open a book — any book —on the economics of developing countries, and it will begin with the usual litany of woes. Developing countries, notwithstanding the enormous strides they

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