Economic development

In the <a href="/facts/Economics/HYctA2Dn">economics</a> study of the <a href="/facts/Public_sector/bV8gdzPu">public sector</a>, economic and social development is the process by which the economic <a href="/facts/Well-being/h1dsU4VU">well-being</a> and <a href="/facts/Quality_of_life/37ljmgAH">quality of life</a> of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and objectives.
The term has been used frequently in the 20th and 21st centuries, but the concept has existed in the West for far longer. "<a href="/facts/Modernization/7l6JlX61">Modernization</a>", "<a href="/facts/Westernization/1CqhvF51">Westernization</a>", and especially "<a href="/facts/Industrialization/h3QXzS6C">industrialization</a>" are other terms often used while discussing economic development. Historically, economic development policies focused on industrialization and <a href="/facts/Infrastructure/QJvbsSpl">infrastructure</a>; since the 1960s, it has increasingly focused on <a href="/facts/Poverty_reduction/qTXfx5c1">poverty reduction</a>.
Whereas economic development is a <a href="/facts/Public_policy/fYl7gXaC">policy</a> intervention aiming to improve the well-being of people, <a href="/facts/Economic_growth/kEXm3jWm">economic growth</a> is a phenomenon of market <a href="/facts/Productivity/yXlzAjC2">productivity</a> and increases in <a href="/facts/GDP/zQRgyFKc">GDP</a>; economist <a href="/facts/Amartya_Sen/R9zxJTMs">Amartya Sen</a> describes economic growth as but "one aspect of the process of economic development".

Economic development open-in-new

Economic development