Human society, in its beginnings, was a single class in conflict with nature until man found the means for a secure life and understood the secret of his existence through harmony with nature, exploiting its resources and discovering its potential. This ensured his daily and future sustenance, saving where he feared depletion and drought, and searching for alternatives where he anticipated scarcity. This was the beginning of economic thinking, which became filled with contradictions: poverty and wealth, strength and weakness, abundance and scarcity, exploitation and investment, with a quarter of the world's population controlling three-quarters of its wealth.

Man continued to search for the best ways to satisfy his basic needs and sought to organize economic life with customs, traditions, and laws that serve his human goals. He faced problems, some linked to his immediate surroundings—be it a dwelling, village, city, or country—seeking solutions either with what he possessed in his small community or through cooperation and integration with other societies. In the modern era, man has faced a huge number of problems, from his existence on earth governed by national laws to his economies and their branching issues related to the scarcity of natural resources, their conservation, or natural or economic disasters.

The essence of modern economics is manifested in the endeavor, work, and planning to find a continuous balance between (limited resources) and (the permanent and renewable needs of the population), thus ensuring a continuous improvement in the material and moral living standards of peoples, including housing, clothing, food, and spiritual, cultural, and moral needs. The search began for mechanisms to increase economic growth, meaning a steady or consistent increase in the productive capacity of the national economy, which over time helps to increase income and general production, under good governance and equitable distribution.

Due to the difficulty of judging a country's progress or economic development solely by its income, the concept of economic development emerged as more comprehensive and broader than the concept of growth. This concept determines the extent of a country's economic, social, and international progress or backwardness. Therefore, all serious nations with good governance are keen on economic development, not just economic growth, to achieve real progress and development. This requires the state to provide all its individuals with their basic needs: food, shelter, healthcare, protection, and security. The state must be able to raise the standard of living by increasing income, providing job opportunities, offering the best educational systems, paying attention to all social and human values, and instilling virtues and a sense of belonging to the homeland in its citizens. These are general principles for the success of economic development.

For example, before the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, China was a very poor and weak nation with a population of about 500 million and an area of 9.6 million square kilometers. The highest annual major industrial products in the entire country were: 445,000 tons of yarn, 2.79 billion meters of fabric, 61.88 million tons of raw coal, and the highest annual grain production was 150 million tons, and cotton 849,000 tons. After more than fifty years, China is now one of the major economic powers with latent development potential in the world. Statistics confirm that the 21st century will be the century of China, which has managed to lift a quarter of the world's population out of the cycle of poverty and underdevelopment. Despite owning only 7% of the world's agricultural land, it has managed to feed its population. Since 1978, it has achieved positive growth rates of at least 6% annually despite obstacles. From 1980 to 1993, the private industrial sector grew by 11.5% annually. The growth of Chinese power is reflected in its high economic growth rate, which exceeds 7% annually, with a value of $45 trillion in 2000, stability in its national currency, a trade surplus of $186 billion in 2001, a balance of payments surplus of $205 billion in the same year, foreign exchange reserves of $1.932 trillion in August 2001, and an industrial production growth rate of 95% in September 2001. Undoubtedly, all these figures reflect the current Chinese renaissance when compared to those of developed countries.

Achieving sustainable economic growth that generates income and job opportunities in developing countries depends on their ability to create and develop a thriving private sector that provides good jobs and better income levels and bears its social responsibility. Without the dynamic force of private initiatives governed by competitive market controls, the poor will remain trapped in poverty.

From this standpoint, this book comes to discuss the most prominent economic issues in the world in this millennium related to economic planning and development. Through its six chapters, it aims to serve students of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences in particular, in understanding the manifestations, causes, and obstacles of economic development, and for researchers in the topics of economic development in general. Chapter One presents basic concepts in economic development, Chapter Two discusses development theories and modern development policies, Chapter Three covers the role of economic sectors in development, Chapter Four addresses development financing, Chapter Five deals with the obstacles to economic development, and finally, Chapter Six presents the basic concepts of economic planning.

• Number of Pages: 264
• Year of Publication: 2025
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1
• Printing Color: Black
• Size (cm): 17x24
• Weight (kg): 0.550
• Barcode: 9789957068530