Technology, Globalisation and A Need for A New Model of Development (Mahboob ul Haq Lecture: Key Takeaways)

The transformations in the current global context—including the need to create opportunities for young people – force us to think of a new development model – There is a shift in patterns of structural transformation that has made the traditional model of development less relevant today. The standard model of structural transformation divides the economy on a sectoral basis – agriculture, manufacturing, and services. It suggests that as development occurs, there is a movement of resources—particularly labour, from low productivity / traditional agriculture to urban occupations that are more formal and organised. In the course, of this transformation, the economy experiences a significant increase in overall productivity– which is essentially the engine of growth in the standard story of structural transformation/model of industrialisation. As the economy grows, there is a further movement towards services—the tertiary sector expands, but this deindustrialisation only occurs after a certain (economic) maturity has been reached and does not bring too many challenges for development per se.