[Ryarn]

Iv'e got an essay question on whether if a country gains the status of a 'developed' country it has solved it's economic problems. And i'm pretty lost.
I can think of obvious things to talk about such as the measures involved may say it's developed but in reality there's still issues. But don't know how i can develop the answer further than this. It's only for 15 marks so doesn't need too much but any help would be appreciated.

[rajandkwameali]

perhaps define economic problems, especially ones which both a developing and developed/first world economy would face.

A country in a developing state has the same basic macroeconomic goals as a first world country, in that it wants high economic growth, low inflation, low unemployment and a healthy (but not necessarily positive) balance of payments. But it would also be concerned with alleviating poverty, especially absolute poverty, improving literacy, improving access to running water/wholesome food, etc. So the government of a developing state would use economic growth to reduce poverty.

Once an economy becomes first world though, the same basic macroeconomic objectives remain the same. But there would be more emphasis on maintaining high productivity levels (by GDP per hour worked, which is the most common measure of labour productivity), comparative macroeconomic performance (so in the UK, this would mean comparing Britain's performance with the USA, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan and Spain as other large advanced economies), and general issues of competitiveness.

Since Labour won in 1997, Blair and now Brown have sought to raise the UK's productivity levels compared to other large developed economies as an example of the above paragraph. Thatcher's mission and remit as PM was to improve the UK's relative macroeconomic performance.

Hope this helps!