1) Economic development aims to enhance economic well-being and create wealth to improve political and social conditions, though there is no single definition or strategy for achieving it. 2) Geography plays a key role in economic development, with three dimensions: economic density concentrates activity but also inequality; economic distance separates developed and underdeveloped areas within a country; and divisions like borders increase restrictions and disparities between places. 3) Achieving social justice through principles like equal participation, fair distribution based on contributions, and limiting exploitation can encourage development by satisfying and motivating workers, and enabling greater participation in markets.

1. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Unlike a drop of water which loses its identity when it joins the ocean, man does
not lose his being in the society in which he lives. Man's life is independent. He is
born not for the development of the society alone, but for the development of his
self.
- B.R.Ambedkar
The International Economic development council (IEDC) describes economic
development as a process that influences growth and restructuring of an economy to
enhance the economic well being of a community. In broader sense economic
development encompasses areas like policies which government formulate to meet
broad economic objectives; programs undertaken explicitly to improve the business
climate through specific efforts like business finance, marketing, neighborhood
development, business retention and expansion; and hence in totality creation of
economic wealth to improve the political, and social well being of the people. As there is
no single definition for economic development, there is no single strategy, policy, or
program for achieving successful economic development. Communities differ in their
geographic and political strengths and weaknesses. Each community, therefore, will
have a unique set of challenges for economic development.
”Reshaping Economic Geography – WDR 2009” a social scientific study undertaken by
World Bank sites three mutually inclusive developmental challenges for the nations viz,
A billion slum dwellers in the developing world’s cities, a billion people in fragile lagging

2. areas within countries, and a billion at the bottom of the global hierarchy of nations. Thus
the report conveys a different message that the economic growth is seldom balanced. A
generation of economic research outlines the fact that there is no good reason to expect
economic growth to spread smoothly across space. The city of Lagos in Mali, West
Africa brings out ‘economic density’ as the first geographic dimension of economic
development. Lagos, where activity is so concentrated that its residents speak of living in
a pressure-cooker. Some families rent rooms to sleep for six hours and then turn them
over to another family that takes their place. Shopping does not necessarily require
travel: goods are brought on foot and cart to drivers stuck in Lagos’s interminable traffic
jams. To some, like the authors of Lagos’s 1980 master plan written when the city had
just 2.5 million residents, the continuing growth of the city is “undisciplined”. Economic
density is perhaps the reason that makes Lagos attractive despite its crime and
congestion. Jane Jacobs, the noted urbanist, did not have Lagos in mind when she
wrote, “A metropolitan Economy, if it’s working well, is constantly transforming many
poor people into middle-class people, many illiterates into skilled people, and many
greenhorns into competent citizens. Cities don’t lure the middle class. They create it.”
Surveying the evolution of ‘economic density’ with development brings out the fact that
the increase in economic activity diverges the living standard of the people based upon
density such as urban-rural and within urban. With development, geographic disparities
in socio-economic welfare are large.
Deng Xiaoping, generally seen as the architect of China’s resurgence as an economic
superpower, insisted on openness to world markets. He also insisted on concerted
development of the country’s coastal areas, like Shanghai and Guangzhou, as launching
grounds for connecting to these markets. When asked about the growing Wealth
disparities between the coast and the interior, he reportedly countered, “If all of

3. China is to become prosperous; some [areas] must get rich before others. This brings
out ‘economic distance’ as the second geographical dimension to economic
development of a country. This presents stylized fact about economic concentration in
parts of a country, usually called “leading areas,” and the convergence in living
standards between households in these areas and those in distant or disconnected
parts, called “lagging areas,” in the same country. As countries develop and integrate
internally, location matters more for economic activity but less for social welfare. As in
today’s rich countries, distance-to density affects incomes in emerging market countries.
In China good market access produces higher individual wages, even after controlling
for individual, sector-, and province-specific attributes, living cost differences, and human
capital externalities. In Brazil lagging areas economically distant from Sao Paulo and
other large markets have lower wages, and improving an area’s growth prospects largely
depends on reducing distance.
Over the past two centuries, global gross domestic product (GDP) has grown about 2.3
percent a year; an almost 50-fold increase in constant dollars. But growth has not been
uniform. Half of global GDP today is produced on just 1.5 percent of the worlds Land,
which would fit comfortably into Algeria. This dense economic mass is home to about a
sixth of the world’s people. It is the persistence of divisions between nation-states that
sets the processes of economic geography apart for countries and regions. The latest
wave of globalization, which began after World War II, has been associated with a
borderless world. In 1990 Kenichi Ohmae famously pronounced that “borders have
effectively disappeared.” For some world regions and some transactions across borders,
this reflects reality. But borders, rather than disappear, have tripled in the past 50 years.
This ‘divisions’ affect economic development, how geography and cultural history
contribute to persistent divisions, and how countries impose barriers to productive

4. interaction with their neighbors and the rest of the world. Hence ‘division’ is recognized
as the third geographical dimension to the economic development. Viewed through an
economic lens, some borders are much wider than others. The width or thickness of
each country’s borders is proportional to restrictions that each country imposes on the
flow of goods, capital, people, and ideas with all other countries. The wider the border,
the more the country limits trade, travel, and thereby create greater socio economic
disparity as per needs and necessities.
This contemporary study of economic development structures the framework of policies
which will lead to industrial-economic modernization plus organizational and related
aspects of enterprise development in modern societies. As rightly formulated in the
paper ‘’Economic Justice and Fairness” – By Douglas Dunn an economic system
consistent with compassionate policies would bring people from all segments of the
economy together, instead of pitting them against each other in divisive class struggles;
increase accessibility to economic participation for as many people as possible to help
address legitimate "first step" needs so as many people as possible can be made ready
to move on to higher levels of personal advancement and encourage fair and equitable
distribution of the wealth produced among all those who participate in producing it to
reflect their contributions to such production. To whatever extent possible, these goals
should be achieved with a minimum of government intrusion into the personal lives or
private economic decisions of individuals. They should rely primarily on positive market
forces and incentives to attract compliance, but use reasonable regulatory controls when
needed.

5. Economic justice, which touches the individual person as well as the social order,
encompasses the moral principles which guide us in designing our economic institutions.
Social justice encompasses economic justice. Social justice is the virtue which guides us
in creating those organized human interactions we call institutions. In turn, social
institutions, when justly organized, provide us with access to what is good for the person,
both individually and in our associations with others. Within the system of socio -
economic justice as defined by Louis Kelso and Mortimer Adler, there are three essential
and interdependent principles: The Principle of Participation - equal opportunity in
gaining access to private property in productive assets as well as equality of opportunity
to engage in productive work, The Principle of Distribution - the "output" or "out-take"
rights of an economic system matched to each person's labor and capital inputs., and
The Principle of Harmony - the "feedback" or balancing principles required to detect
distortions of either the input or output principles and to make whatever corrections are
needed to restore a just and balanced economic order for all. The third principle can also
be referred as “the principle of limitation" – a restraint on human tendencies toward
greed and monopoly that lead to exclusion and exploitation of others.
Social justice is an important force for socioeconomic development for a number of
reasons. Human beings often act for the sake of benefits, especially individual benefits.
If we truly carry out the principle "same contribution - same benefit," the satisfaction level
will be more and the sense of contribution for all people, will remain the same. Labour
and capital are the two basic factors of economic development. Once people who have
working capacity eagerly contribute their labour, capital holders will eagerly contribute
their funds. Sociological survey data show that people are temporarily ready to accept
inequality but not to accept unfairness. They agree that the ones who contribute labour,
capital, or talent can have an easy life and others who do not will live poorly. But it is

6. unacceptable to see one who is dishonestly trading, embezzling, or abusing power have
special privileges and benefits and leading a luxurious overindulgent life, while the ones
who work hard day and night still lead a poor life. This is the most difficult problem; if we
can solve this problem it will bring about positive effects and encourage working people
to boost economic growth. The term "social justice" is often employed by the political left
to describe a society with a greater degree of economic egalitarianism, which may be
achieved through progressive taxation, income redistribution, or even property
redistribution, policies aimed toward achieving that which developmental economists
refer to as equality of opportunity. As per John Rawls certain basic liberties should be
recognized and enforced through policies which are freedom of thought, liberty of
conscience as it affects social relationships on the grounds of religion, philosophy, and
morality; political liberties, freedom of association and freedoms necessary for the liberty
and integrity of the person like freedom from slavery, freedom of movement and a
reasonable degree of freedom to choose one's occupation. This ultimately encourages
the citizens of a particular nation to act more objectively towards their social obligation.
Economic development and consequently maintenance of social equilibrium is truly a
global issue and is largely based upon how citizens of a particular nation react under a
government controlled environment and respond to a market based environment. In this
context higher economic growth can only be achieved through implementation of social
policies based upon the basic principles of equal participation, proper distribution and
objective limitation and exclusion of exploitation. Also through global participation
government of various nations, world development organizations should formulate
proactive measures through social policies which ultimately minimize their overall role so
that influence of free market and individual self-interest can be fully realized. To
conclude, we will do well to remember a quote of current American President Barack

7. Obama, who said,” This is the moment when we must build on the wealth that open
markets have created, and share its benefits more equitably. Trade has been a
cornerstone of our growth and global development. But we will not be able to sustain this
growth if it favors the few, and not the many.”