Editing Economic development (section)

==History==
[[Economy|Economic]] development originated in the [[post-war]] period of reconstruction initiated by the United States. In 1949, during his inaugural speech, President [[Harry Truman]] identified the development of undeveloped areas  as a priority for the West:

:"More than half the people of the world are living in conditions approaching misery. Their food is inadequate, they are victims of the disease. Their economic life is primitive and stagnant. Their poverty is a handicap and a threat both to them and to more prosperous areas. For the first time in history, humanity possesses the knowledge and the skill to relieve the suffering of these people ... I believe that we should make available to peace-loving people the benefits of our store of technical knowledge to help them realize their aspirations for a better life… What we envisage is a program of development based on the concepts of democratic fair dealing ... Greater production is the key to prosperity and peace. And the key to greater production is a wider and more vigorous application of modem scientific and technical knowledge."

There have been several major phases of [[development theory]] since 1945. [[Alexander Gerschenkron]] argued that the less developed the country is at the outset of economic development (relative to others), the more likely certain conditions are to occur. Hence, all countries do not progress similarly.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective|last=Gerschenkron|first=Alexander|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1962|location=Cambridge, MA}}</ref>  From the 1940s to the 1960s the state played a large role in promoting industrialization in developing countries, following the idea of [[modernization theory]]. This period was followed by a brief period of basic needs development focusing on [[human capital]] development and redistribution in the 1970s. [[Neoliberalism]] emerged in the 1980s pushing an agenda of free trade and removal of [[import substitution industrialization]] policies.

In economics, the study of economic development was born out of an extension to traditional economics that focused entirely on the [[Gross national product|national product]], or the aggregate output of goods and services. Economic development was concerned with the expansion of people's [[Entitlement (fair division)|entitlement]]s and their corresponding capabilities, such as [[morbidity]], [[nourishment]], [[literacy]], [[education]], and other [[Socioeconomics|socio-economic]] indicators.<ref>See [[Michael Todaro]] and [[Stephen C. Smith (economist)|Stephen C. Smith]], {{cite web | url = http://wps.aw.com/aw_todarosmit_econdevelp_11/ | title = Economic Development | edition = 11th | access-date = 2012-03-30 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180623173145/http://wps.aw.com/aw_todarosmit_econdevelp_11/ | archive-date = 2018-06-23 }}, [[Pearson Education]] and [[Addison-Wesley]] (2011).</ref> Borne out of the backdrop of [[Keynesian economics]] (advocating government intervention), and [[neoclassical economics]] (stressing reduced intervention), with the rise of high-growth countries ([[Singapore]], [[South Korea]], [[Hong Kong]]) and planned governments ([[Argentina]], [[Chile]], [[Sudan]], [[Uganda]]), economic development and more generally development economics emerged amidst these mid-20th century theoretical interpretations of how economies prosper.<ref name="Development: Which Way Now?">{{cite journal | last1 = Sen | first1 = A | year = 1983 | title = Development: Which Way Now? | journal = Economic Journal | volume = 93 | issue = 372| pages = 745–62 | doi=10.2307/2232744| jstor = 2232744 }}</ref> Also, economist [[Albert O. Hirschman]], a major contributor to [[development economics]], asserted that economic development grew to concentrate on the [[Developing country|poor regions of the world]], primarily in [[Africa]], [[Asia]] and [[Latin America]] yet on the outpouring of fundamental ideas and models.<ref>Hirschman, A. O. (1981). The Rise and Decline of Development Economics. Essays in Trespassing: Economics to Politics to Beyond. pp. 1–24</ref>

It has also been argued, notably by Asian and European proponents of [[infrastructure-based development]], that systematic, long-term government investments in [[transportation]], [[housing]], [[education]], and [[healthcare]] are necessary to ensure sustainable economic growth in emerging countries.

During Robert McNamara's 13 years at the World Bank, he introduced key changes, most notably, shifting the Bank's economic development policies toward targeted poverty reduction.<ref name=":03" /> Before his tenure at the World Bank, poverty did not receive substantial attention as part of international and national economic development; the focus of development had been on industrialization and infrastructure.<ref name=":03" /> Poverty also came to be redefined as a condition faced by people rather than countries.<ref name=":03" /> According to Martha Finnemore, the World Bank under McNamara's tenure "sold" states poverty reduction "through a mixture of persuasion and coercion."<ref name=":03" />