Abstract
Bangladesh, like most develo** countries, has been experiencing a moderate but steady structural transformation (ST) moving the economy away from traditional agricultural activities to relatively modern manufacturing and services sectors. The challenge for Bangladesh is to manage the ST process and economic institutions to increase and diversify incomes, reduce risks and uncertainties, lessen poverty and inequalities, and enhance social achievements. The key for Bangladesh is to integrate three development dimensions of desirable structural changes, growth to reduce income and productivity gaps (convergence), and enhanced equality. The interactions between ST and social development are critical for Bangladesh since technology has radical impacts on social interactions, leading to adaptation and regeneration of social relations. New ICTs are changing social relations, and rising overseas labour migration is transmitting social relations across geographies providing new ways of adaptation. These developments indicate the need for embracing a multi-sectoral and interdisciplinary view on ST in Bangladesh to include institutional changes that mediate social outcomes.
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Notes
- 1.
In his model, Lewis does not equate traditional with agriculture and modern with manufacturing; although, for simplicity, this is how the model has been interpreted in the mainstream development literature.
- 2.
Syrquin (1988) calls such interventions as ‘minimal development state’, although the role may go well beyond the classical role of protecting the citizens against violence, theft, and fraud and enforcement of contracts and related issues.
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Mujeri, M.K., Mujeri, N. (2021). Introduction. In: Structural Transformation of Bangladesh Economy. South Asia Economic and Policy Studies. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0764-6_1
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