1.

Why is economics central to an understanding of the problems of

development?
I think because the development of a country depends upon
economic factors and so you can only understand how a country is
developing if you know about how the economic factors are and how
the factors change. Many problems of development stem from a lack
of money and economics is all about money so the two areas of
development and economics are related. Problems of development
are like not having enough money, which means too much poverty
and high unemployment rates and these aspects of the problems are
central issues in economics and so economics teaches us about
problems in development and so we can better understand these
problems principally by looking at economic factors that define the
problems. Its mainly money at the centre of economic problems or a
lack of money and so it is effected largely by how money is
distributed among people and for what purposes money uses which
are central issues in economics. I suppose you cant understand
unemployment as well as an economist understands unemployment
because economists look at unemployment all the time and pay very
close attention to it so economists are very good at understanding
economic development problems for this reason and probably other
reasons. Furthermore economics is a social science and is concerned
with people and economic development problems also stem from
people so these fields are related and understanding the one helps
you better understand the other because you can build up a bigger
picture.

3. What do you hope to gain from this course on development economics?

I courage to gain more knowledge of the resources available
from our Region, as well as the State, for improving our communities

through job growth. I also look forward to networking with local

professionals who are working toward the same goal of promoting
our Region. I am excited about this leadership program and
appreciate the opportunity.

5. Why is an understanding of development crucial to policy formulation in

developing nations? Do you think it is possible for a nation to agree on a
rough definition of development and orient its strategies accordingly?
The word "development" has a number of meanings.
Depending on which meaning one adopts, there are a number of
policy issues which could be adopted to achieve the goal. First, one
must ask "development for whom." If a country only wishes to secure
development for the wealthiest members of its society, then it may
spend a great deal for nothing more than law enforcement and
projects in politically connected parts of the country. If a state wants
to gain broad based development, then you should pursue programs
of public health, education, microfinance, etc.
Is it possible for an entire nation to agree 100% on development?
Nope. It's impossible to get an entire group to agree on anything
political! That being said, it isn't that hard to get the leaders of a
country to agree on a program.

6. Why is a strictly economic definition of development inadequate? What

do you understand economic development to mean? Can you give
hypothetical or real examples of situations in which a country may be
developing economically but still be underdeveloped?

Economic development is overall improvement of living

standards. Hence it is much more complex than economic growth
which is basically increase in real GDP. Economic development would
take health conditions, education, security, infrustracture etc into
account. While increase in GDP may help achieve the means to these
developments, it doesn't mean it will. For instance I'd say Turkey is
economically doing well, there is definitely economic growth however
there are many journalists arrested for being opposed to the
government, there is high level of corruption evident from the recent
events. So I'd say increase in GDP does not reflect the development.

7. How does the concept of capabilities to function help us gain insight

into development goals and achievements? Is money enough? Why or why
not?
I would like to explain this answer with an example. Suppose
that a person has a bike and does not know how to drive it. its
means his functions abilities are very low. Amartiya Sen wants to tell
us that we should use the commodities by knowing all the functions
related to it.As Amartya Sen said, "Economic growth cannot be
sensibly treated as an end in itself. Development has to be more
concerned with enhancing the lives we lead and the freedom we
enjoy.and in the next question, money is really not enough. Freedom
and self-esteem and equality to lead life and enjoy life and use the
life in the best way is also a part of development.Money is enough
only to enhance the freedom of choice but not the development. In
development, your function abilities should be increases as much as
possible.