Studying economic development helps us in understanding which of the following?
Poverty: The discipline of Economic Development starts with the problem of backwardness and international poverty. It means why the world has been divided into two opposite poles i.e. the North and the South. In other words, why the development gap between countries of the world is increasing, i.e., the rich countries are getting rich while the poor countries are getting poor.
Backwardness: It is the education and the mass media both at the country level and at world level which arouse the feelings in favor of development, i.e., the people of backward countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America became aware of with the concept of Economic Development.
Role of state in Economic Development: In order to attain economic development just the market forces cannot be relied upon. It means that private sector is not capable enough to start the big projects like thermal and hydro power plants construction of roads, water supply and water sanitation etc.