1. Most development economists now seem to agree that the level and rate of growth of GNI and per capita income do not provide sufficient measures of a country's development. What is the essence of their argument? Give some examples.
2. Distinguish between size and functional distributions of income in a nation. Which do you conclude is the more appropriate concept? Explain your answer.
3. What is meant by absolute poverty? What measures of income poverty are favored by development economists? How do these measures differ from the UNDP's Multidimensional Poverty Index? Why should we be concerned with the measurement of poverty in developing nations?
4. Describe Kuznets's inverted-U hypothesis. Discuss the conceptual merits and limitations of this hypothesis for contemporary developing countries.
5. What is the relationship between a Lorenz curve and a Gini coefficient? Give some examples of how Lorenz curves and Gini coefficients can be used as summary measures of equality and inequality in a nation's distribution of income.
6. Are rapid economic growth (as measured by either GNI or per capita GNI) and a more equal distribution of personal income necessarily conflicting objectives? Summarize the arguments both for and against the presumed conflict of objectives, and state and explain your own view.
7. How might inequality lead to faster growth or development? How might it lead to slower growth or development?
8. Is progress being made in the fight against poverty? Why or why not?
9. What types of poverty policies have proved effective?