EXPLANATIONS OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATIONS OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Many theories have been put forward to explain why some nations are developed and while others are under-developed. The main theories are:

Sociological Theory: This school of thought believes that economic growth and development is linked to certain characteristics of the people. It emphasized that countries may become under- developed due to some negative characteristics such as lack of inventiveness, laziness, high rate of absenteeism and negative attitude to work. A nation may be classified as being developed if it has positive characteristics mentioned above.

Colonial background theory: This school of thought believes that nations become under-developed because they were at one time or the other colonized. While the colonial masters prosper, leading to developed nations as a result of continued exploitation, the colonized nations become poorer resulting in under-development.
Climatic development theory: This school of thought believes that climate has certain influence in the development of a nation. It emphasized that countries associated with temperature climate are cool, give rice to meaningful thinking, resulting in developed nations while those associated with too cold or too hot climate generally lead to underdevelopment.
Puritanical ethic theory: This theory was propounded by Weber. It believes that puritanical ethic is the brain behind the industrialised nations of the world. It emphasised that self-discipline, abstinence, thriftiness, etc strengthened the incentive to work and save. The absence definitely leads to underdevelopment.

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