Economic Development

Economic development goes beyond simple wealth creation—it represents a nation’s ability to improve the quality of life for its citizens through sustained economic growth, social progress, and equitable resource distribution. This comprehensive process encompasses everything from GDP growth to access to healthcare, education, and fundamental human rights. Understanding the nuances between mere economic expansion and genuine development is crucial for policymakers, economists, and citizens alike as nations navigate the complex challenges of the 21st century.

What is Economic Development?

Economic development refers to the sustained process through which countries and regions enhance their economic productivity while simultaneously improving the living standards of their population. Unlike simple economic growth, which focuses solely on increasing GDP, development takes a holistic approach that considers social welfare, environmental sustainability, and equitable wealth distribution.

This multidimensional concept emerged prominently during the rise of modern capitalist economies, where increased production capacity and capital accumulation became driving forces. However, true development requires more than just quantitative expansion—it demands structural transformations that benefit society as a whole through improved infrastructure, technological advancement, better education systems, and enhanced healthcare access.

The process involves complex interactions between various economic actors, including governments, private enterprises, and civil society organizations, all working toward creating an environment where prosperity can be widely shared rather than concentrated among a few. Economic development also encompasses the transformation of traditional economies into modern, diversified systems capable of adapting to global market dynamics while maintaining social cohesion and environmental balance.

Historically, economic development theory has evolved from simple industrialization models to sophisticated frameworks that recognize the importance of institutions, human capital, innovation ecosystems, and sustainable practices. Today’s understanding acknowledges that development pathways differ across regions based on their unique cultural, geographical, and historical contexts.

Key Characteristics of Economic Development

Understanding economic development requires examining multiple interconnected factors that together paint a complete picture of a nation’s progress. These characteristics distinguish truly developed economies from those experiencing temporary growth spurts:

• Rising GDP per capita with equitable distribution – Developed nations demonstrate high gross domestic product levels, but more importantly, they ensure this wealth translates into improved living standards for all citizens. GDP per capita serves as a crucial indicator, measuring total national income relative to population size, but it’s the distribution that truly matters. A Gini coefficient closer to zero indicates more equitable wealth distribution.
• Universal access to basic necessities – In developed economies, fundamental services like clean water, electricity, sanitation, and housing are accessible to virtually all residents. Low unemployment rates and robust social safety nets ensure that vulnerable populations don’t fall through the cracks. Food security, safe neighborhoods, and reliable public transportation also form part of this foundation.
• Advanced and diversified productive capacity – These nations efficiently utilize their resources through sophisticated industrial processes and a thriving service sector. They’ve moved beyond dependence on primary resources to create value-added products and services. Economic diversification protects against commodity price shocks and creates resilient economies.
• Strong institutional frameworks and rule of law – Developed societies feature transparent governments, independent judiciaries, and respect for democratic principles. Citizens generally express satisfaction with their quality of life and trust in public institutions. Contract enforcement, property rights protection, and predictable regulatory environments encourage long-term investment.
• Technological innovation and adoption – Leading economies consistently invest in research and development, rapidly integrating new technologies to enhance productivity, efficiency, and competitiveness in global markets. Innovation ecosystems connect universities, research centers, and private industry to drive continuous advancement.
• Comprehensive healthcare and education systems – Universal or near-universal access to quality healthcare and education forms the bedrock of developed nations, creating healthy, skilled populations capable of driving continued progress. High literacy rates, advanced technical training, and lifelong learning opportunities characterize these systems.
• Favorable investment climate – Stable economic conditions, clear regulations, and strong property rights create environments where both domestic and foreign investors feel confident deploying capital for long-term projects. Low corruption, transparent bureaucracies, and efficient financial systems facilitate capital allocation.
• Sustainable and resilient growth patterns – Development isn’t a temporary boom but rather a sustained trajectory that can weather economic cycles and adapt to changing global conditions while maintaining progress. Environmental considerations increasingly shape development strategies as climate change impacts become more apparent.
• Social mobility and equal opportunities – Economic advancement creates pathways for individuals to improve their circumstances regardless of their background, reducing entrenched inequality and fostering dynamic, meritocratic societies. Access to credit, business opportunities, and career advancement remains open to diverse populations.
• Low corruption and accountable governance – Transparent institutions with effective checks and balances minimize corruption, ensuring that public resources serve the common good rather than private interests. Free press, civil society organizations, and active citizen engagement hold leaders accountable.

Critical Factors Driving Economic Development

Measuring and understanding economic development requires analyzing various interconnected factors that extend far beyond simple economic metrics. These elements work synergistically to create the conditions necessary for sustainable progress and shared prosperity.

True development integrates economic expansion with human welfare indicators such as life expectancy, educational attainment, healthcare access, and environmental quality. This holistic approach recognizes that numbers alone don’t tell the full story of a nation’s progress—the lived experiences of citizens matter equally.

• Production and economic factors – The fundamental building blocks include land, capital, labor, and entrepreneurship. How effectively these resources are combined and utilized directly impacts economic output. Modern economies increasingly emphasize knowledge and innovation as critical production factors alongside traditional resources. Efficient resource allocation through market mechanisms and strategic planning maximizes productive potential.
• Technological and innovation capabilities – In today’s interconnected world, technology serves as a primary catalyst for development. Digital transformation, automation, artificial intelligence, and advanced manufacturing techniques have revolutionized how economies operate, enabling unprecedented productivity gains and new industries. Countries that invest heavily in R&D and create innovation-friendly environments tend to achieve faster, more sustainable development.
• Human capital and social development – Perhaps the most critical factor distinguishing growth from development is attention to human welfare. Employment quality (not just quantity), wage levels, working conditions, skills training, and opportunities for advancement all determine whether economic expansion genuinely improves people’s lives. Investments in health and education create multiplier effects throughout economies.
• Institutional and governance quality – The effectiveness, transparency, and accountability of political, social, and economic institutions fundamentally shape development outcomes. Strong institutions enforce contracts, protect property rights, provide public goods, and create stable environments where long-term planning becomes possible. Weak institutions, conversely, breed corruption, uncertainty, and inefficiency.
• Infrastructure and connectivity – Modern transportation networks, reliable energy systems, digital infrastructure, and efficient logistics create the physical foundation upon which economic activity can flourish and reach all regions of a country. Infrastructure investments often yield high social returns by connecting markets, reducing transaction costs, and enabling commerce.
• Environmental sustainability and natural resources – Increasingly, development models must account for environmental impact and resource conservation. Sustainable development balances current needs with future generations’ ability to meet their own needs. Countries rich in natural resources must avoid the “resource curse” by managing these assets wisely rather than allowing them to fuel corruption and economic distortions.
• Access to capital and financial systems – Well-functioning financial markets channel savings toward productive investments, enabling entrepreneurs to start businesses and established firms to expand. Microfinance, venture capital, stock markets, and banking systems all contribute to capital allocation efficiency. Financial inclusion ensures that small businesses and individuals can access credit to improve their circumstances.
• Trade openness and global integration – Participation in international trade exposes economies to competition, technology transfer, and larger markets. Export-oriented strategies have lifted millions out of poverty in East Asia and elsewhere, though they must be balanced with domestic development priorities and protection of vulnerable sectors during transitions.

Measuring Economic Development: Key Indicators

While GDP remains the most widely recognized economic metric, development economists have created more sophisticated tools to capture the multidimensional nature of progress:

The Human Development Index (HDI), created by the United Nations Development Programme, combines per capita income with life expectancy and education levels to provide a more complete picture. Countries are ranked from 0 to 1, with higher scores indicating greater development. This index has become the global standard for comparing development levels across nations.

Gross National Income (GNI) per capita adjusts for purchasing power parity, offering a more accurate comparison of living standards across countries with different price levels. This metric helps identify whether economic gains translate into actual improvements in what people can afford.

The Inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI) accounts for how development gains are distributed across populations, revealing disparities that average measures might hide. A large gap between HDI and IHDI suggests development benefits accrue disproportionately to elites rather than being broadly shared.

The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) examines deprivation across health, education, and living standards, capturing poverty’s complexity beyond income alone. This approach recognizes that someone might earn above the poverty line while lacking access to clean water, education, or healthcare.

Other important indicators include infant mortality rates, literacy levels, internet penetration, carbon emissions per capita, and the Gender Development Index, which measures gender-based disparities in development outcomes.

Economic Growth Versus Economic Development

Economic growth represents a necessary but insufficient condition for genuine development. While growth measures quantitative increases in economic output, development encompasses the qualitative improvements in how that output translates into better lives for citizens. This distinction carries profound implications for policy design and national priorities.

A nation can experience robust GDP growth while most citizens see little benefit if wealth concentrates among elites or if growth comes at the expense of environmental degradation, social cohesion, or workers’ rights. Development demands that growth be inclusive, sustainable, and accompanied by progress across social and institutional dimensions. Countries like China have achieved remarkable growth rates while still facing development challenges related to inequality, environmental damage, and regional disparities.

The distinction becomes clear when examining countries with similar GDP levels but vastly different quality of life indicators. Development requires deliberate policies that ensure economic gains translate into accessible healthcare, quality education, decent housing, safe communities, and opportunities for all citizens to reach their potential. It’s entirely possible for a country to grow rapidly while becoming less developed if the benefits bypass most people or undermine social stability.

Growth typically focuses on increasing production and consumption, measured through straightforward metrics like GDP expansion rates. Development, by contrast, asks whether this increased production improves human capabilities, expands freedoms, and creates sustainable prosperity. Nobel laureate Amartya Sen emphasized development as “the expansion of human capabilities”—the ability of people to lead lives they value and have reason to value.

International organizations like the United Nations track these multifaceted aspects through tools like the Human Development Index (HDI), which combines GDP per capita with life expectancy, education levels, and other welfare indicators to provide a more complete picture of true development progress. Countries that prioritize development over mere growth tend to achieve more stable, inclusive, and sustainable prosperity over time.

Strategies for Achieving Economic Development

Countries have pursued various strategies to achieve development, with varying degrees of success. Understanding these approaches helps explain why some nations have prospered while others have struggled despite similar starting points.

Import substitution industrialization (ISI) was popular in Latin America and other regions during the mid-20th century. This strategy protected domestic industries through tariffs and subsidies, aiming to reduce dependence on imports and build local manufacturing capacity. While it achieved some industrialization, ISI often led to inefficient industries unable to compete globally and patterns of crony capitalism.

Export-oriented industrialization (EOI) took the opposite approach, focusing on integrating into global markets by producing goods for export. East Asian tigers like South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore achieved remarkable development through this strategy, leveraging low labor costs initially while progressively moving up the value chain toward high-tech industries. This approach requires strong institutions, investment in education, and strategic industrial policy.

Resource-led development attempts to leverage natural resource wealth to fund broader development initiatives. Countries like Norway and Botswana have succeeded by establishing sovereign wealth funds and transparent governance, while many resource-rich nations have fallen victim to the “resource curse” of corruption, conflict, and economic distortion.

Human capital-focused strategies prioritize investments in education and healthcare, recognizing that skilled, healthy populations drive innovation and productivity. Countries like Finland and South Korea have achieved high development levels partly through exceptional education systems that create competitive workforces.

Technology and innovation-driven development emphasizes creating ecosystems that foster research, entrepreneurship, and rapid technology adoption. Israel and Ireland have successfully positioned themselves as innovation hubs, attracting global investment and developing cutting-edge industries despite limited natural resources.

Challenges to Economic Development

Despite theoretical understanding of development requirements, many countries face persistent obstacles that prevent sustained progress. Recognizing these challenges is essential for designing effective interventions.

The poverty trap occurs when low incomes prevent savings and investment, perpetuating underdevelopment. Without capital for education, healthcare, or business development, poor individuals and countries struggle to escape poverty cycles. Breaking this trap often requires external assistance or targeted government intervention.

Institutional weakness and corruption undermine development by diverting resources from productive uses to private enrichment. When citizens cannot trust governments, courts, or police, the uncertainty discourages long-term investment and entrepreneurship. Building strong institutions takes time and requires committed leadership and civil society pressure.

Geographic disadvantages pose challenges for landlocked countries, those in tropical climates facing disease burdens, or nations prone to natural disasters. While geography isn’t destiny, it creates additional hurdles that successful development strategies must address through infrastructure investment and international cooperation.

Conflict and political instability destroy physical capital, disrupt economic activity, and create refugee crises that drain resources. Post-conflict reconstruction faces the dual challenge of rebuilding while establishing governance structures that prevent renewed violence. Development and peace are mutually reinforcing—neither can be sustained without the other.

Climate change and environmental degradation increasingly threaten development progress, particularly in vulnerable regions. Rising sea levels, extreme weather events, desertification, and resource depletion force countries to invest in adaptation rather than advancement, potentially reversing hard-won gains.

Global economic integration challenges create both opportunities and risks. While trade and investment can accelerate development, they also expose countries to external shocks, capital flight, and competition that can overwhelm infant industries. Managing globalization requires sophisticated policy tools and strong institutions.

Examples of Highly Developed Economies

• Norway – Regularly topping global development rankings with an HDI above 0.96, Norway demonstrates how natural resource wealth (petroleum) can be managed for broad public benefit. With one of the world’s highest GDP per capita levels exceeding $80,000, universal healthcare and education, minimal corruption, and strong democratic institutions, Norway exemplifies comprehensive development. Its sovereign wealth fund, worth over $1.4 trillion, ensures intergenerational equity by saving oil revenues for future citizens.
• Switzerland – This Alpine nation combines economic prosperity with exceptional quality of life, consistently ranking among the top five most developed countries. Its highly developed service sector, particularly in finance and specialized manufacturing (watches, pharmaceuticals, precision instruments), generates wealth that’s distributed through efficient public services. Low unemployment below 3%, minimal inflation, political stability through direct democracy, and world-class infrastructure create an environment of sustained prosperity.
• New Zealand – Demonstrating that development isn’t limited to large economies, New Zealand achieves high living standards (HDI above 0.93) through smart economic policies, strong institutions, and investments in human capital. Its citizens enjoy excellent healthcare with life expectancy exceeding 82 years, near-universal education, and outstanding environmental quality. The country successfully transitioned from agricultural dependence to a diversified economy emphasizing services and technology.
• Singapore – This city-state showcases rapid development achieved through strategic planning, openness to global trade, massive infrastructure investment, and emphasis on education and innovation. Within five decades, it transformed from a developing economy to one of the world’s most prosperous, with GDP per capita exceeding $70,000. Its success demonstrates how strong governance, rule of law, and strategic positioning can overcome geographic limitations.
• South Korea – Perhaps the most dramatic development success story, South Korea rose from poverty following the Korean War to become a high-income, technologically advanced economy. Its strategy combined export orientation, massive education investments, strategic industrial policy, and gradual democratization. Today it leads in industries like electronics, automobiles, and entertainment, with an HDI above 0.92 and GDP per capita around $35,000.
• Germany – Europe’s largest economy exemplifies how manufacturing excellence, vocational training systems, strong labor protections, and social market economics can create shared prosperity. Its “Mittelstand” of medium-sized companies forms the backbone of a diversified, export-oriented economy that weathers global shocks while maintaining low inequality and high living standards.

Economic Development in Mexico

Mexico currently ranks 76th on the United Nations Human Development Index with a score of approximately 0.76, reflecting a complex picture of significant economic potential alongside persistent challenges. As one of the world’s largest economies (15th by GDP), Mexico has demonstrated consistent growth and possesses substantial natural and human resources, manufacturing capacity, and strategic geographic position.

However, the country faces ongoing struggles with inequality, regional disparities, and ensuring that economic growth benefits all segments of society. While major urban centers like Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara showcase modern infrastructure, thriving industries, and sophisticated services, rural areas and southern states often lag significantly in development indicators such as education access, healthcare quality, and economic opportunities.

Key challenges include improving educational quality and access—particularly in rural and indigenous communities—strengthening security and rule of law to combat organized crime and corruption, modernizing infrastructure beyond major cities, and creating more formal employment opportunities with decent wages and benefits. The informal economy still employs nearly 60% of workers, limiting tax revenue and worker protections.

Mexico’s proximity to the United States offers tremendous opportunities through trade (USMCA agreement) and remittances, which exceed $50 billion annually. The country has built strong manufacturing sectors in automobiles, electronics, and aerospace. However, dependence on the U.S. market creates vulnerabilities, and moving beyond assembly operations toward higher-value innovation remains a challenge.

Addressing these issues while maintaining economic growth and leveraging opportunities from nearshoring trends represents Mexico’s primary development challenge in the coming decades. Success will require reducing corruption, improving education outcomes, investing in infrastructure, and ensuring that growth benefits reach marginalized communities.

Sustainable Development: The Future Framework

Modern development thinking increasingly emphasizes sustainability—meeting present needs without compromising future generations’ ability to meet theirs. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted in 2015, provide a comprehensive framework encompassing 17 goals ranging from poverty elimination to climate action, gender equality, and sustainable cities.

This approach recognizes that traditional development models often created environmental damage, social disruption, and resource depletion that undermined long-term prosperity. Sustainable development integrates economic, social, and environmental considerations, seeking synergies where progress in one area reinforces others rather than creating trade-offs.

For example, renewable energy development can simultaneously reduce carbon emissions, create jobs, improve energy access in remote areas, and reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels. Similarly, investments in girls’ education improve health outcomes, reduce population growth, increase productivity, and promote gender equality—multiple development goals from a single intervention.

The circular economy concept is gaining traction as a sustainable alternative to traditional linear “take-make-dispose” models. By designing products for longevity, reuse, and recycling, economies can reduce resource consumption while creating new industries and employment in remanufacturing and recycling sectors.

Climate change adaptation and mitigation have become inseparable from development planning, particularly for vulnerable developing countries facing severe impacts despite contributing little to historical emissions. Green finance, carbon pricing, technology transfer, and international cooperation will be essential for achieving sustainable development globally.

Development Approaches: Liberalism and Protectionism

Throughout economic history, two competing philosophies have shaped how nations pursue development, with most successful countries blending elements of both rather than adhering rigidly to either extreme.

Economic Liberalism (Free Market Approach)

Liberal economic thought emphasizes individual freedom, private property rights, and minimal government intervention in markets. This approach argues that competitive markets, when left relatively free, allocate resources most efficiently and drive innovation through entrepreneurial initiative and profit motives.

Liberalism advocates for free trade, open competition, private enterprise, deregulation, and limited government spending. Proponents believe that removing barriers to commerce—both domestic and international—creates the conditions for maximum economic dynamism and growth. The role of government should focus on protecting property rights, enforcing contracts, maintaining macroeconomic stability, and providing essential public goods like defense and basic infrastructure rather than directing economic activity or choosing winners and losers.

Historical roots of this philosophy trace to Enlightenment thinkers like Adam Smith and gained practical expression through events like the French Revolution, which dismantled feudal restrictions and established modern notions of economic freedom. The Washington Consensus of the 1990s represented a high-water mark for liberal approaches, prescribing privatization, deregulation, and trade liberalization as universal development solutions.

Critics argue that pure market approaches exacerbate inequality, ignore market failures, leave public goods underprovided, and favor already-developed nations in international competition. The 2008 financial crisis renewed skepticism about unfettered markets and highlighted the importance of regulation and government intervention in preventing systemic risks.

Protectionism and State-Led Development

In contrast, protectionist approaches assign a more active role to government in shaping economic outcomes and ensuring equitable development. This philosophy argues that unfettered markets often produce unacceptable levels of inequality, environmental damage, or dependence on foreign economies, particularly in developing countries trying to catch up with advanced nations.

Protectionism favors domestic production through tariffs, subsidies, and regulations that shield local industries from international competition while they develop capabilities to eventually compete globally. It emphasizes strategic government intervention through industrial policy, public investment in key sectors, state-owned enterprises in strategic industries, and redistribution mechanisms like progressive taxation and social spending to prevent wealth concentration.

Advocates argue this approach allows nations to build competitive industries without being overwhelmed by established foreign competitors, protect workers during economic transitions, ensure that development benefits are widely shared rather than captured by market winners alone, and maintain policy autonomy to pursue national development goals rather than conforming to global market pressures.

The success of East Asian developmental states like Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan lent credibility to activist government approaches. These countries used tariffs, subsidies, directed credit, and close government-business coordination to build internationally competitive industries, though they also maintained export discipline and meritocratic bureaucracies that distinguished them from failed import-substitution efforts elsewhere.

Critics warn that protectionism can create inefficient industries dependent on government support, opportunities for corruption and rent-seeking, trade conflicts with partners, and consumer harm through higher prices. The challenge lies in designing interventions that build capabilities without creating permanent dependence or cronyism.

Finding Balance in Practice

In practice, most successful development stories have blended elements of both approaches, using market mechanisms where they work well while deploying strategic government action to address market failures, provide public goods, and ensure inclusive growth. The optimal mix depends on a country’s development stage, institutional capacity, and specific circumstances.

Modern development economics recognizes that markets are powerful tools for allocating resources and spurring innovation but require appropriate institutional frameworks, regulations, and social policies to function well and produce inclusive outcomes. The debate has shifted from whether governments should intervene to how they can intervene most effectively while maintaining accountability and avoiding capture by special interests.

FAQs About Economic Development

What is the main difference between economic growth and economic development?

Economic growth refers to the increase in a country’s production of goods and services, typically measured by GDP. Economic development is broader, encompassing not only economic growth but also improvements in quality of life, education, healthcare, infrastructure, and equitable distribution of wealth. A country can have high GDP growth while still lacking true development if those gains don’t improve citizens’ well-being.

How is economic development measured?

Economic development is measured through various indicators beyond GDP. The Human Development Index (HDI) combines per capita income, life expectancy, and education levels. Other important metrics include the Inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI), Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), literacy rates, infant mortality, access to clean water and electricity, and the Gender Development Index. These tools provide a comprehensive picture of a nation’s true development level.

What are the most important factors for economic development?

Key factors include strong institutions and rule of law, quality education and healthcare systems, technological innovation, adequate infrastructure, political stability, access to capital and financial systems, environmental sustainability, and effective governance with low corruption. Human capital development and inclusive policies ensuring equitable distribution of resources are equally critical for sustained development.

Can a country develop economically without natural resources?

Yes, many countries have achieved high development levels without significant natural resources. Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, and Japan are prime examples. These nations focused on human capital development, technological innovation, strategic trade policies, strong institutions, and developing service and manufacturing sectors. Education, governance quality, and innovation often matter more than natural resource endowments.

Why do some resource-rich countries remain underdeveloped?

This phenomenon is called the “resource curse.” Resource-rich countries often struggle with corruption, economic distortions, conflict over resource control, neglect of other economic sectors, and poor governance. When natural resources dominate the economy, governments may ignore institutional development, education, and diversification. Successful resource-rich countries like Norway and Botswana avoided this trap through transparent governance and strategic resource management.

How long does economic development typically take?

Economic development is a long-term process that typically spans decades. South Korea transformed from a low-income country to a developed economy in about 50 years. China has made remarkable progress in 40 years but still faces development challenges. The timeline depends on starting conditions, policy choices, institutional quality, external circumstances, and whether growth is inclusive and sustainable. There are no shortcuts to genuine development.

What role does technology play in economic development?

Technology is increasingly central to development. It improves productivity, creates new industries, enhances education and healthcare delivery, connects remote regions, and enables developing countries to leapfrog certain development stages. Digital infrastructure, automation, and innovation ecosystems are now critical factors. Countries that invest in R&D, technological education, and rapid adoption of new technologies tend to develop faster and more sustainably.

Is economic development sustainable in the face of climate change?

Traditional development models face serious challenges from climate change, leading to the concept of sustainable development. This approach balances economic progress with environmental protection and resource conservation. Renewable energy, circular economy principles, green technology, and climate adaptation strategies are becoming integral to development planning. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals provide a framework for achieving prosperity while protecting the planet for future generations.

What is the relationship between democracy and economic development?

The relationship is complex. Some authoritarian states like Singapore and historical South Korea achieved rapid development, while many democracies have struggled. However, research suggests that in the long term, democratic institutions with strong rule of law, property rights protection, transparency, and accountability tend to produce more stable, inclusive, and sustainable development. Democracy helps prevent extreme policy mistakes and ensures development benefits are more broadly distributed.

How can developing countries escape the poverty trap?

Escaping the poverty trap requires coordinated efforts across multiple fronts: investing in education and healthcare to build human capital, developing infrastructure to connect markets and reduce costs, establishing strong institutions and rule of law, creating favorable conditions for investment and entrepreneurship, implementing social safety nets, and sometimes receiving strategic external assistance. Successful examples show that targeted government intervention combined with market-oriented reforms can break poverty cycles when implemented with accountability and long-term commitment.