What was the toaster project? What Thomas Thwaites attempt to do? Was he successful and what is the significant of this example in the context of complexity and development?

The toaster project was an attempt to construct a toaster from scratch by assembling all of the required materials. Essentially, the hypothesis for this project was, “the economy and society of a region is only a mere aspect of development and should account for the well-being and fulfillment of those who are a part of it.” As Thwaites assembled the toaster, he struggled to gather materials such as the steel in the project, which needed to be smelted in a microwave in order to shape into the piece that was needed for the toaster. This is significant because the microwave that he made was not useful to him due to the fact that it did not have all the sufficient parts that a firm or institution of a developed country would.

According to Barder, how successful have economic models been at describing and predicting growth over the past 50 years? How did he use the Harrod-Domar model, the Solow model, the Washington consensus and the Ajoakuta Steelworks to illustrate his point (reference at least two of the above).

Barder argues that economic models have not been successful in describing and predicting growth because the institutions are not keeping up with the potential of markets and firms. This led to inefficient output of firms and was even reflected in trade internationally. However, Barder furthers the point that the economy is a mere aspect of development. Instrumental freedoms such as political participation and freedom from corruption should be used to usher in a new movement in a country that strives to reform institutions, which will ultimately lead to more output that benefits the whole. For example, the Washington consensus’ policies can be observed as an indirect drawback to development because they did not lead to the reformation of developing countries that have not industrialized yet. Moreover, the Ajoakuta Steelworks company furthers Barder’s argument that institutions need to be reformed, which is another unfreedom that affects the economy as a whole. This company has been struck by elitist corruption, which has resulted in their profiting and little to no output.

Who was Steve Jones? What did he do at uni-lever? Was he successful? Specifically what did he do in order to make an evolutionary jump forward? How significant were his results?

Steve Jones is an evolutionary biologist who worked in a factory to produce soap. He was tasked with designing a new nozzle to produce soap due to the fluid dynamics being nonlinear. He made ten variants of nozzles and tested them all respectively. Barder states that Jones’ discovery is a huge jump into the future of development because it was way more efficient than the previous nozzle that uni-lever started with. This is significant because it is a testament to adaptive change, which calls upon firms and institutions to improve their technologies.

Who was Haile Sellasie? What is the significance of Kapuscinski’s book, The Emporer? According to Barder, how did Ethiopia exemplify the suppression of emergent systemic change? How do you think Sen would have described this suppression? Do you agree?

Haile Sellasie was the emperor of Ethiopia during the feudal dynasty from 1930 to 1974. This novel accounted for the final days of the emperor’s rule in the feudal dynasty until it was overthrown. Sellasie used the secret police to report any talks that question the emperor’s authority, such as talks of famine and poverty. The book covers the inner workings of the regime and how it worked against people by extracting economic value for personal gain. Sen would have described this oppression as a direct attack on the freedoms of people which in turn stunned the development of the country.