GE Economics (Issues in Economic Development)

Semester V 2021

Assignment Set 1

NOTE: Please submit the assignment preferably as a word file (typed soft copy) or a scan (pdf) of
handwritten one. Name the files as “your name GE Eco Qx”. That is, if your name is Shilpa Kohli
and you have answered Q 3, then name the file as “Shilpa Kohli GE Eco Q3”. Write your name,
class and roll number in the body of the assignment. Mail the assignment to
sbhattacharya@kmc.du.ac.in
Last Date of Submission: 5th October, 2021

Answer any one question; you can answer more if you choose to, I will pick the one with the
highest marks for IA. (You can also answer from the Assignment Set 2, which I will give later.)

Each question carry 25 marks.

1. Explain the phenomenon of “Great Divergence” between the two halves of the world. How were
the processes of industrialisation, deindustrialisation and “great specialisation” linked to this
phenomenon?
2. Discuss. Does high income inequality create obstacles for economic development? Discuss. What are the
possible ways in which economic growth and poverty can be related; does high economic growth
automatically eradicate poverty? What are the possible broad approaches to reduce income inequality and
poverty in a country?
3. Explain the Headcount Ratio as a measure of absolute poverty. How does the Total Poverty Gap measure
address the shortcomings of the Headcount Ratio? Does poverty have gender dimensions? Discuss.
4. Why does Prof. Amartya Sen prefer to conceptualise poverty in terms of capability deprivation rather
than income deprivation? Explain the relevance of such an approach to the conceptualisation of Human
Development and Multidimensional Poverty Indexes.
5. Explain the Human Development Index (HDI) along with its components. Explain the methodology of
the index construction and the changes that were brought about in 2010. Provide a brief assessment of
HDI as a measure of development.
6. (a) Explain the concepts “Lorenz Curve”and Gini Coefficient. What inference can you draw if the Lorenz
curves of two countries cross each other? (b) What is particularly bad about extreme income inequality
in a country? Is it necessary for income inequality to increase for achieving higher growth in a
developing economy?
7. What is meant by sustainable development? What are the issues involved in discounting climate
change. Are market prices adequate signals of resource scarcity? Evaluate the opinion that for
developing countries environmental concerns should be of lower priority compared to growth
objectives.