The text defines economic development as
A) a sustained increase in real GDP per person.
B) an increase in the general standard of living resulting from the real process of economic growth.
C) a process that produces sustained gains in per capita GDP.
D) a process that produces sustained and widely shared gains in per capita real GDP.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Economic development refers to a process that produces sustained and widely shared gains in per capita real GDP. This means that not only should there be an increase in per capita income, but this increase should also be fairly distributed across the population. A sustained increase in real GDP per person (option A) may not necessarily result in economic development if it is concentrated only among a small segment of society. Similarly, an increase in the general standard of living resulting from the real process of economic growth (option B) may not necessarily lead to economic development if it is not sustained or widely shared. Option C is close, but it does not account for the distributional aspect that is crucial to economic development.

The Text Defines Economic Development as