Economic Development and Growth, the Challenge of the 60's

It can be safely stated that most economic theories that developed in past and contemporary history are the product of a specific cultural era, of certain types of social institutions, of various degrees of coopera? tion of economics and politics, patterns of cultures, and above all they are the product of economic problems of the time. Economics and economic life have been considered at times as sepa? rate worlds, not because of the nature of economics itself, but only be? cause of human limitations in the search for economic solutions and because of the riches of the real economic world. Philosophical concepts and prejudices have had, at times, an impact on the trends of economic theorizing also. One should be aware of the fact, however, that economics like any other science is not a logical, consistent process that starts with some few primitive notions and then adds to the stock in a straight-line fash? ion. It is not even simply a progressive discovery of an objective reality ?as is, for example, the discovery of the basin of (the) Congo. Rather it is an incessant struggle with creation of our own and our predecessors' minds and it progresses, if at all, in criss-cross fashion, not as logic, but as the impact of new ideas or observations or needs, and also as the bents and temperaments of new men dictate.1 Broadly speaking we might say that in the known history of mankind four major eras developed. Accordingly four major theoretical ap? proaches to economics and streams of economic thought grew and as? serted themselves

Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Natural resource economics · Economic Theory and Policy