ABSTRACT
After reading this chapter, you should understand: • the magnitude of poverty in the less-developed nations and some
of its human and social costs; • the differences in the relative incomes and development levels
between regions of the less-developed world and with moredeveloped regions;
• the trends in economic growth in the different regions; • the extent of the inequality in the distribution of income, of wealth,
and of participation in economic and social life of the different regions of the world;
• the progress in living standards that has been attained in the lessdeveloped world, despite relatively slow progress in economic growth in recent years;
• the range of barriers to development, both internal and external, that tend to thwart economic, social and human development;
• the importance of structural change, of technology, and of institutional innovation to more rapid progress in the future.
