PCD AND A "FLEXIBLE" MARKET SYSTEM



A. What is a flexible Economy?
"We can define a flexible economy as one which individuals, organizations and institutions efficiently adjust their goals and resources to changing constraints and opportunities" (Killick, 1995).

"More generally, flexibility is the ability to create new opportunities in addition to recognizing and exploiting available ones" (Syrquin, 1995).

QUESTION:
Does PCD enhance the ability of its participants to realize new opportunities? If so, how?
 
 

B. Flexibility--The Fundamental Necessity for Economic Development:
"A neoclassical vision of the world is one of flexibility. Flexibility and adaptability appear to be key elements in facilitating the all-encompassing transformation required by modern economic growth" (Syrquin, 1995).

"An economy with a flexible structure, which can readily adjust with the needs of the time, will achieve faster development than an economy with rigid structure. Inflexible economies can expect retarded growth, with disjunctures between demand and supply creating bottlenecks, balance-of-payments strains, inflationary pressures and other economic dislocations" (Killick, 1995).

QUESTION:
Why is the exhibiting of flexibilility by social agents transformative for society?
 
 

C. How can Flexibility be Induced?:
"The main conclusion is that flexibility can probably be enhanced by very prosaic methods. Foremost is education and more generally, the development of human capabilities, which ultimately determine the capacity to adapt and to transform. ... To enhance flexibility, we need inducement mechanisms that can help mobilize the underutilized resources" (Syrquin, 1995).

QUESTIONS:

D. For Reflection:
"Economic development is something much wider and deeper than economics, let alone econometrics. Its roots lie outside the economic sphere, in education, organization, discipline and beyond that, in political independence and national consciousness of self-reliance" (Schumacher, 1973).