As different countries design and implement policies that intend to advance their economic standards, the global state of the economy affects the impacts of such policies. Evolutionary economic process depends on factors such as the spatial features, levels of technological awareness, and availability of infrastructure. However, the numerous changes that have occurred in this century in terms of economic development have made the less-developed nations experience slight differences in the nature of economic evolution as experienced by the advanced economies.
The difference in time span implies great metamorphosis in economic status. Dynamism in economic thinking is the main factor that has caused dissimilarity in the two economies. Less-developed economies are not experiencing the phases of evolutionary economic process in a different way. For example, the African continent with an approximate population of 1 billion people, numerous mineral resources, and expansive land size is operating under loans and donations to run its economy.
This is quite opposite to the experience advanced economies like the US went through the phases of evolutionary economic process. Even though the US depended on other economies for progress, like ready market for its products, it was able to support its own economy with no need for loans and donations (Muchie, 2012). This scenario shows the vulnerability of less-developed economies to the world economy, contrary to that of the developed nations.
In properly understanding the state of economy in developing nations, practitioners and policymakers in these areas can borrow much from the effects of the evolution in the US and UK. Since the economy is a complex evolutionary system, it does not require standardized or static strategies for the developing nations (Boschma & Frenken, 2011).
Taking the example of the US during the post-civil war, economic policies were grounded on conservatism and liberalism. However, the current state of its economy is grounded on evolutionary policies. Therefore, the fast changing demographics, technology, and geographical shift in production in the 21st century requires the less developed nations to apply different approaches to handle the stage of economic evolution.
With globalisation already rooted in the present generation, approaches to managing the current evolutionary economic process are also quite different (Pyka & Hanusch, 2008). The technological difference between the times when advanced economies went through the process makes developing nation to experience a different evolutionary economics.
Even though there are great differences in the way in which less-developed nations are experiencing the evolutionary economic process, slight similarities exist in form of reliance for growth. England, for example, had to form wide networks of colonies in order to obtain raw materials and be assured of ready markets. This reliance is present in less-developed nations; however, the nature is a bit dissimilar to that of the advanced economies in that they rely on developed economies to offer them the new technologies to develop their economies (Boschma & Frenken, 2011).
On the other hand, the high level of economic dependence existing between less-developed economies and advanced economies shows that the phases of economic evolution that less-developed nations are experiencing have much influence from the developed economies (Atkinson, 2014). This aspect is evident in the presence of a global market; it was not present at the times when advanced economies were going through the process.
Even though economic theories suggest a distinct chain of development, the difference in technology, demographics, and geographical shift cause some dissimilarity in the way Third World economies are experiencing the early and middle evolutionary economic process. Understanding these differences helps scholars to design different approaches to manage the process, and with strong economic links with the developed economies, the response to the evolution is of great importance to the entire world. The close relation is evident in the manner in which the economic recession of 2007, which started in the US, affected almost all economies. Another recent example is the break out of Ebola in the Western part of Africa. It has great impact on the world economy as a whole.
References
Atkinson, R. D. (2014). Understanding and maximizing America’s evolutionary economy. Web.
Boschma, R., & Frenken, K. (2011). The Emerging Empirics of Evolutionary Economic Geography. Journal of Economic Geography, 11(2): 295-307.
Muchie, M. (2012). Evolutionary Economic Theory and the National Innovation SystemPerspective for an Integrated African National Structural Transformation. Web.
Pyka, A., & Hanusch, H. (2008). Applied evolutionary economics and the knowledge-based economy. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.