Over the past two decades and, particularly after the Social Summit in Copenhagen, development practice increasingly has paid more attention to the underlying causes of poverty and social exclusion. The World Bank, like other international agencies, has concluded that understanding the socio-cultural, political, and institutional context is essential for developing actions that induce and support changes leading to poverty reduction and more inclusive, accountable, and cohesive societies and institutions.-World Bank

1. Pokhara University
Nepal Engineering College
Centre for Postgraduate Studies
Discuss the economic, social, cultural, and
environmental factors that may be used to define the
level of development of a country, with reference to
latest factors used by different international institutes
defining level of development.
Santosh Sapkota
Roll No.-1026

2. When there remains poverty, inequality unemployment among us, it
would be strange to call the development even if per capita income is
doubled. -Dudley Seers (1969)
Development concerns not only man’s material needs, but also the
improvement of social conditions of his life. Development is,
therefore, not only economic growth but growth plus change-social,
cultural and institutional as well as economic.-UNO
The systematic use of scientific and technical knowledge to meet
specific objectives or requirements.
(Source : CMDC notes, Prof. Dr. Hari Krishna Shrestha)
The process of economic and social transformation that is based on
complex cultural and environmental factors and their interactions.
(Source : CMDC notes, Prof. Dr. Hari Krishna Shrestha)
What is Development

3. Sustainable Development

4. Economic factor determining level of development
Capital Formation:
Natural Resources
Marketable Surplus of
Agriculture:
Conditions in Foreign Trade:
 Economic System:
Globalization and the free market
economy
 Debt cycle
Human Resources:
Technical Know-How and General
Education:
Social Organization:
Corruption:
 Desire to Develop:
Economic Factor Non-Economic Factor

5. Capital Formation:
• Save a high ratio-of its income,
with the objective of raising the
level of investment.
• Great reliance on foreign aid is
highly risky.
• Lack of capital is the principal
obstacle to growth and no
developmental plan will
succeed
• To achieve economic progress a
certain minimum rate of capital
accumulation is realized.
Economic factor determining level of development

6. Natural Resources:
• In fact, natural resources are a necessary condition
for economic growth but not a sufficient one. Japan
and India are the two contradictory examples.
• According to Professor Lewis, “A country which
is considered to be poor in resources may be
considered very rich in resources some later time,
not merely because unknown resources are
discovered, but equally because new methods are
discovered for the known resources”.
• Japan is one such country which is deficient in
natural resources but it is one of the advanced
countries of the world because it has been able to
discover new use for limited resources.
Economic factor determining level of development

7. Marketable Surplus of Agriculture:
• Excess of agriculture output over what is needed
for subsistence of rural population is marketable
surplus
• Food shortage would force a country to import
food grains which in turn would affect the
economy.
• Indian government was compelled to import huge
quantities of food grains till 1976-77 (The Indian
Agricultural Research Institute (IARI)
Economic factor determining level of development

8. Conditions in Foreign Trade:
• Foreign trade is exchange of capital, goods, and
services across international borders or
territories.
• In most countries, it represents a significant share
of gross domestic product (GDP).
• According to Anatol Marad, “International
trade is a trade between nations”.
Economic factor determining level of development

9. The debt cycle
• While these loans initially came
attached with low interest rates,
over time the banks which lent out
the money have increased the
interest rates on repayments.
• In most cases, interest rates have
been increased to levels which are
nearly impossible for developing
countries to meet.
• In this way, debts continue to
accumulate, and the money which
could be spent by governments on
such things as infrastructure and
healthcare is spent on repaying
debts.
• EXAMPLE: Recent Case in
Greece
Economic factor determining level of development

10. Economic System:
• Free market economy: Production of goods and
services is in private ownership
• Command Economy: Decision on what to
produce, how much, done by the government
• Mixed Economy: Certain economic sectors
controlled by private business, others are
government controlled.
Economic factor determining level of development
(Source: www.slidesshare.net

11. • Human Resources:
The productivity of illiterate, unskilled, disease ridden and superstitious
people is generally low and they do not provide any hope to developmental
work in a country.
• Technical Know-How and General Education:
As the scientific and technological knowledge advances, man discovers
more and more sophisticated techniques of production which steadily raise
the productivity levels.
Robert M. Solow has observed that the contribution of education to the
increase in output per man hour in the United States between 1909 and
1949 was more than that of any other factor.
Factor determining level of development

12. Political Freedom:
• Economic development needs conducive and stable environment.
• Freedom can be dangerous if misunderstood by wrong and unqualified
people, and can threaten economic development.
• Economic development usually means higher literacy, access to better
education, development of infrastructure, legislation, law and order etc...
Which should give a good base for political freedom and rules for
politicians to enjoy their freedom.
Factor determining level of development

13. Corruption:
• Corruption is rampant in developing
countries at various levels and it
operates as a negative factor in their
growth process.
• Until and unless these countries root-
out corruption in their administrative
system, it is most natural that the
capitalists, traders and other powerful
economic classes will continue to
exploit national resources in their
personal interests.
Factor determining level of development

14. Desire to Develop:
• Development activity is not a mechanical
process. The pace of economic growth in
any country depends to a great extent on
people’s desire to develop.
• If in some country level of consciousness
is low and the general mass of people has
accepted poverty as its fate, then there will
be little hope for development.
Factor determining level of development

15.  Climate related disease – Many tropical countries unfortunately
suffer from diseases that thrive in hot humid conditions, such as
Dengue Fever, and Malaria. People who get these diseases are
incapacitated and cannot work or may even die, limiting
development.
 A lack of natural resources – Countries with few natural
resources start off at a very low economic base and find it hard to
create products that can sell on world markets.
 Natural resource curse theory – this is a theory that states if a
country has one very valuable resource all efforts of the country
are put into the exploitation of that resource. That limits the
POTENTIAL development of other industries.
 Being landlocked with bad neighbours –countries that have no
access to the sea are at the mercy of their neighbors. If they are
“bad neighbors” this can severely limit development.
 Climatic hazards Such as hurricanes and drought are more
likely to strike some countries than others. The 2011 to 2012
Horn of Africa famine that affected Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya and
Somalia had a long term impact. Many of these countries had to
deal with a refugee crisis, diverting valuable resources away from
other development objectives.
Environmental factor determining level of development

16. Culture
Clifford Geertz states that, in general, ‘culture is a
historical system of inherited Conceptions,
symbolically expressed, through which people
communicate, perpetuate and develop their knowledge
and approaches to life’.
• Culture influences society’s ability not only to design
but also to operate institutions.
• The development process largely depends on attitudes,
norms, values and institutions existing in the society.
• Values and attitudes motivate the social behavior.
• Discrimination affects the country’s overall
productivity.
• The role of women in a society. e.g.. role of women in
Arab world.
• Cultural or religious norms may block the role of
women
Cultural factor determining level of development

17. Social Factor
• There are many social factors that can affect the
level of development of a place. Things like lack
of drive of social motivation for betterment,
unproductive social functions such as war or
having very large family sizes, negative social
cultures such as gambling and drinking, and lack
of skills due to poor training and education.
• Education is particularly important, as many
countries cannot afford to send all children to
school even at a basic level.
• UNICEF claim that in 2006 93 million children of
primary school age were not in school!
Social factor determining level of development
(Source: www.slidesshare.net

18. There are a whole range of indicators which give us some idea about people’s
quality of life.
Access to safe water Crime levels
Access to broadband internet connection Subjective life satisfaction
Male and female literacy rates Obesity
Number of people per car Corruption perception index
Pop per doc Number in higher education
Food consumption Energy consumption
Mortality rates for diseases Pollution levels air/water
Social factor determining level of development

19. Political Factor
• Unstable or bad government affects the country’s development.
• Governments need to do lots of things to encourage development such as to
build and maintain infrastructure, and raise and spend finance wisely on the
right projects.
• Encourages investment and initiative that protect businesses and
individuals legally.
• Governments have the power to take actions which direct a country's social
and economic development.
• Government corruption and greed have caused problems which have
hindered the country’s progress.
• Foreign intervention play a key role in the reformation of a government.
• Political leaders take the situation in their own hand and decide themselves.
Historical Factor
• Country's history will provide explanations for many of the political,
economic, social and environmental factors that also contribute to its level
of development.
• Most significant historical factors that have hindered development is
colonization.
• Underdeveloped countries are essentially dependant on agriculture; they
have a rural or agrarian economy.
Political and Historical factor determining level of development

20. References
• Do cultural factor influence Economic Development, Ana Iolanda Voda, Academic research journals(india),17-25
• http://web.uvic.ca/~kumara/econ420/characteristics-dev.pdf
• Todaro, M. P. (1994). Economic Development (5th ed.). New York, London: Longman.
• http://www.economicsconcepts.com/common_characteristics_of_developing_countries.htm
• Types of Determinants (Factors) Which Influence the Economic Development of a Country ; Retrieved from
http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/economics/factors-that-influence-the-economic-development-of-a-country/5942/
• Shrestha, H.K. 2015, Class Notes, M.Sc.CM, Nec-CPS.
• International Institute for Sustainable Development, http://www.iisd.org, Nov,2014.

21. Thank you