Development Economics Assignment 1

Summary: According the article, Some Notes on Work Ethos and economic Development, the economic disposition of a country, in some part, depends on its Work Ethos. As explained by the author, the Work Ethos of any nation is understood as an amalgamation of three interdependent concepts: Effort propensity, Social efficiency capital and Rationality. The effort propensity of the society can be measured by the Work-Leisure preference, whereby longer work hours would imply greater effort propensity. Social efficiency capital is defined as the decorum and consistency that each worker brings to the workplace and leisure activities, and the author has suggested several ways to compare this variable across societies comparison of its outcomes and laboratory experiments. The third constituent of Work Ethos is rationality refers to actions that are categorically morally justified and are adopted by members of the society to denounce conflict. Rationality can be evaluated by studying similar situations across nations and assessing how often people adhere to these principles. After examining the definition of Work Ethos, the author reconciles it to Economic Development. The article cites the examples of various states that emerged in the post-war era, along with certain states in Latin America, which broadly had the same strategies for advancing economically. Yet disparity exists between the progresses of these nations, which can be attributed to the differences in their Work ethos, a hypothesis that can be tested by reviewing prewar literature or observation of the existing ethos in either two nations or larger geographical divisions. As evidence, the article attempts to compare Colombia to the more economically developed Far-Eastern nations, by examining all three constituents of Work Ethos. Longer working hours, professionalism, punctuality and a sense of responsibility observed in FarEastern cultures evidences a superior Work Ethos, affirming the hypothesis. Nevertheless, Work Ethos is difficult to alter since they are inculcated in childhood, as a function of culture. To conclude, the article provides some proof of the fact that Work Ethos and Economic Prosperity are linked, however a systematic methodology to carry out enhanced researches have also been suggested.