ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AS AN EMPIRICAL CONCEPT1

Economic development must be the most abused term in social science. It is used to mean many different things; it describes both a state and a myriad of processes. Development is a state to be achieved since developed countries have a per capita income in excess of $1500; "lesser " developed counties do not. Development is also widely viewed as a process. Many scholars have empha-sized that development is distinct from the concept of growth, but careful usage of these terms is not common practice. Flammang (1979) reports nine different ways of distinguishing between growth and development, one of which is not bothering to define either term. One approach is to endow development with impor-tant normative characteristics, so in contrast with growth this term implies something "better". Sen ( 1983) takes thi