Conclusion

There is ample literature on poverty, inequality, exploitation and starvation in yesteryears’ socialist and non-socialist countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. It is difficult to say whether any particular order is more conducive to human happiness. Human happiness depends on a large number of factors and the model of economy is only one of them. Others are connected with standards of living, political equality, freedom, values, international peace, and absence of natural calamities to name a few. Within limits some tradeoffs are possible but a man wants all of them all the times. This also shows the predicament of planning and development. The next lecture will focus on value based economy and explore if it is possible to have an economic framework which combines the processes of economic development with humanistic values.