Philippine E-Journals

The Dilemma of Development

Bernardo M. Villegas

Discipline: Social Science, Economy

 

Abstract:

In the English language, there are few words more loaded than "economic" and "development". Such everyday catchwords as "economical" and "economize" have generated a multitude of connotations, ranging from the sizes of toothpaste tubes to the sizes of congressmen's allowances. The common man feels such an existential closeness to the perennial problems of food, shelter and clothing that he is constrained by no inhibitions whatsoever in discussing "economic" affairs. The businessman, faced every day by the numerous forces making for profits or losses, feels no inhibitions either about pontificating on economic problems. To make matters worse, he finds no reason why he should not call himself an economist. And to add to the confusion, the economists themselves have concocted many definitions of the newly-born science of economics.