SOSC 1430 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Scientific Method, Authoritarianism, Nepotism

• School: York University
• Department: Social Science
• Course: SOSC 1430
• Professor: Miguel Gonzalez

Document Summary

Development, most simply, is improvement of human well being. There is a enormous gap between rich income countries and poor income countries. As western countries took advantage of those they were trying to colonize, they did so to extract and take advantage of their resources: economic advantage, example. What makes development is our ability: imagine, theorize, conceptualize, experiment, invent, articulate, organize, solve problems, and do a hundred different things with out minds and hands that contribute to progress of the individual and human kind. Natural resources, climate, geography, history, market size, government policies, and many other factors influence the direction and pace of progress: but the engine is human creative capacity. Good government can provide a variety of services that facilitate production: taxation, support for agricultural prices. Thus, government officials play a key role in economic development. Development does not just include productive human existence, but also social dimension, particularly: health, education, welfare.