Modeling, Statistics and Political Circumstances
How the Concept of Economic Development Triumphed and what this Means for Development Alternatives
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4180429 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Philipp Lepenies (Freie Universität Berlin, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 56 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 375-404 |
| Publication date | 2015-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-9756 • E-ISSN: 1474-0583 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0003975615000193 |
| OpenAlex | W2604825637 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 29 |
The notion of "economic development" dominates aid policy. A nation's per capita Gross Domestic Product (gdp) determines whether that country is considered developed or less developed, and the standard measure of any developmental progress isgdpgrowth. This article investigates the evolution of the concept of economic development, as it emerged from a specific combination of modeling, statistics and political circumstances. In this story, Arthur Lewis played a decisive role, but only by building upon Colin Clark's first global national income statistics, an indispensible foundation for Lewis's seminal model of economic development. This model was embraced by policy makers longing for a theoretical framework to clarify and operationalize the hitherto vague concept of development. More importantly, however, the statistical indicator on which Lewis based his theory had already been universally accepted. In other words: statistics came before theory. This holds important lessons for alternative development ideas. It explains why the idea of economic development remains so firmly entrenched and suggests the conditions that might be necessary for an alternative theory to take hold
Econometrics · Economic growth · Economic statistics · Economics · Epistemology · Foundation (evidence) · Gross domestic product · Neoclassical economics · Operationalization · Per capita · Per capita income · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Sociology · International Development and Aid · Law · Philosophy
The general theory of employment, interest, and money
The conditions of economic progress
Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences
Reflections On Human Development
Transforming traditional agriculture
The World in the Model
Gross Domestic Problem
National Income and Outlay.
Economic Growth and Income Inequality
Theorie der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung
W. Arthur Lewis and the Birth of Development Economics
Development as Freedom
Economic Development with Unlimited Supplies of Labour
The Mismeasure of Nations
Capabilities as Fundamental Entitlements
We Are All Planners Now.” Planung und Dekolonisation in Afrika
The new palgrave
Problems of Industrialisation of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe
National Income and Outlay
A theory of human motivation
International Norm Dynamics and Political Change
Economic Development
Too Soft for Economics, Too Rigid for Sociology, or Just Right? The Productive Ambiguities of Sen's Capability Approach
An Inquiry into the Roots of the Modern Concept of Development
The International Development of Economically Backward Areas
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,25 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2021 (4) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |