The toaster project was when Thomas Thwaites attempted to make a toaster from scratch. He had to make his own toaster and find resources in innovative ways to build. It worked partially, and then broke down. The significance of this example in the context of complexity and development is that a multitude of components of the toaster must be operational and advanced enough in order for the success of the functionality of the toaster. In much the same way, a multitude of components of an economy must be advanced for the overall success and development of the economy to occur.
According to Barder, economic models have been fairly poor at describing and predicting growth. Over the years, many economic models have been applied and eventually disputed as our understanding of economic growth has changed. For example, Harrod-Domar growth model suggested that in order for more output from the country, the country needs more capital or more labor. This early economic model proved to be inaccurate as people began to understand that there were many more variables at play than just capital or labor. The Washington consensus was an economic model that suggested that a poor economy was due to poor policies. The policies provided by the Washington consensus were generally ineffective and considered a failure. When people realized this was the case, they determined that it was the institutions that were impacting the economy and cause for the ineffectiveness of the Washington consensus.
Steve Jones was a famous evolutionary biologist. At uni-lever, Steve Jones was hired to make a nozzle for soap powder. After making and distorting many copies of nozzles, Jones was able to successfully make the nozzle. His results were revolutionary, as they were drastically better and much more efficient.
Haile Sellasie was a former emperor and last of the great feudal dynasty of Ethiopia. Kapuscinski’s book, The Emporer, shed some light on the perspective of the regimes as they tried to continue their rule by restricting the economic development of the population. According to Barder, Ethiopia exemplified the suppression of emergent systemic change because of how the elites at the top were incentivized and able to suppress everyone beneath for the continuation of their wealth, limiting the overall economic and social growth of Ethiopia. Sen would have described this suppression as a direct threat and hinderance to the freedoms of the people of Ethiopia. I would agree with Sen, as the people are unable to do much to break out of the control of the powerful and influential elites.