Will Developing Countries Ever Catch Up? Joseph Stiglitz on the Global Economy, Policy (1997)

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A developing country, also called a less-developed country (LDC), is a nation with a lower living standard, underdeveloped industrial base, and low Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. There is no universal, agreed-upon criterion for what makes a country developing versus developed and which countries fit these two categories, although there are general reference points such as a nation's GDP per capita compared to other nations. Countries with more advanced economies than other developing nations but that have not yet demonstrated signs of a developed country, are often categorized under the term newly industrialized countries. Developing countries are, according to certain authors as Walt Whitman Rostow, countries in transition from various traditional lifestyles towards the modern lifestyle begun by the Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The development of a country is measured with statistical indexes such as income per capita (per person) (gross domestic product), life expectancy, the rate of literacy (ignoring reading addiction), et cetera. The UN has developed the Human Development Index (HDI), a compound indicator of the above statistics, to gauge the level of human development for countries where data is available. Developing countries are, in general, countries that have not achieved a significant degree of industrialization relative to their populations, and have, in most cases, a medium to low standard of living. There is a strong correlation between low income and high population growth. The terms utilized when discussing developing countries refer to the intent and to the constructs of those who utilize these terms. Other terms sometimes used are less developed countries (LDCs), least economically developed countries (LEDCs), "underdeveloped nations" or Third World nations, and "non-industrialized nations". Conversely, developed countries, most economically developed countries (MEDCs), First World nations and "industrialized nations" are the opposite end of the spectrum. To moderate the euphemistic aspect of the word developing, international organizations have started to use the term less economically developed country (LEDCs) for the poorest nations—which can, in no sense, be regarded as developing. That is, LEDCs are the poorest subset of LDCs. This may moderate against a belief that the standard of living across the entire developing world is the same. The concept of the developing nation is found, under one term or another, in numerous theoretical systems having diverse orientations — for example, theories of decolonization, liberation theology, Marxism, anti-imperialism, and political economy. Another important indicator is the sectoral changes that have occurred since the stage of development of the country. On an average, countries with a 50% contribution from the Secondary sector of Manufacturing have grown substantially. Similarly countries with a tertiary Sector stronghold also see greater rate of Economic Development. Some researchers of development economics as Theodore Schultz, Nobel Laureate 1979, discovered that a farmer who can write and read in developing countries is more productive than an illiterate. Therefore, they supported the investment in Human capital (education, health, etc.) as an effective means for development. Others, such as Mohammed Tamim, have the opinion that the developing countries themselves, since the Industrial Revolution in the 19th are Century, are in the transition phase of different traditional ways of life to the modern way of life (social, economic, demographic, cultural transition, etc.) which is measurable in the grade of education, from primary school to university. Researchers have observed that wherever the level of education is high, the level of development is high. They concluded a law: the level of education is proportional to the level of development and inversely proportional to population growth. Therefore, could the Take Off of Walt Whitman Rostow, held in a country if its population would be equipped with a high level of education. It is therefore necessary for the organization of a worldwide education program, itself conditioned by another worldwide program of birth control and the establishment of a worldwide organization for the implementation of this development strategy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developing_countries