the measurement of development and under-development in

The measurement of development

and under-development in

comparative social perspective

Joint European Master in

Comparative Local Development

November 12th, 2012

Andrea Petrella [email protected]

contents

• what is development? what is under-development?

• from an economic approach to a sociological approach

• sociological theories and development:

– modernization

– dependency

– world-system

– globalization

– social capital

– eco-development, human development, self-reliance

• how to measure development: economic & social indicators

• human development index

• welfare systems as a model for the enhancement of social

cohesion

possible definitions

development:

• «evolution or bringing out from a latent or

elementary condition»

• «growth and unfolding»

• «gradual advancement through progressive

stages»

Oxford English Dictionary


development as a process and a condition:

growth, change,

movement

identification of what

is developed and

what is not:

-historically

-cross-culturally


«development is not purely an economic

phenomenon but rather a multi-dimensional process

involving reorganization and reorientation of entire

economic and social system»

Michael P. Todaro


«development is a process of improving the quality of all human lives with three equally important aspects. These are:

1. raising peoples’ living levels, i.e. incomes and consumption, levels of food, medical services, education through relevant growth processes

2. creating conditions conducive to the growth of peoples’ self-esteem through the establishment of social, political and economic systems and institutions which promote human dignity and respect

3. increasing peoples’ freedom to choose by enlarging the range of their choice variables, e.g. varieties of goods and services»

Michael P. Todaro


underdevelopment

«state of inadequate development»

«The condition of being insufficiently developed»

«Underdevelopment is the state of an organism or of an organization

(e.g. a country) that has not reached its maturity. It is often used for

economic underdevelopment, and then means deliberately created

poverty by imperialism, including lack of access to health care, to

drinkable water, to food, to education and housing»

Oxford English Dictionary

from an economic approach to a

sociological approach

in the recent history and debates about

development, economic development has

been the dominant theme, measured usually

in crude terms of Gross National Product

(GNP) per capita.



however, this measure of development and

underdevelopment has many problems, e.g.,

it measures averages and tells us nothing

about the distribution of wealth; it equates

economic development with human

development; and only measures one key

dimension of common sense ideas about

what development is or should be.



• conventional way to understand development since the 1950s has been to see it «as a synonym for economic growth» [Barbanti 2004].

• in other words, development has traditionally been measured in terms of economic indicators such as:

gross domestic product (GDP) – a measure of the total value of economic goods and services created by a society over a specific time period, or:

gross national product (GNP) – a measure (sometimes called gross national income) that includes net income from abroad (such as the value of foreign investments).

economic indicators:

why and when are they useful?

•comparisons (historical and cross-cultural)

•classification

Source: World Bank 2011


gross domestic product per capita


Country Name 2011

Luxembourg 115.037,88

Norway 98.102,46

Qatar 92.501,50

Switzerland 80.390,81

Macao SAR, China 65.550,50

Kuwait 62.664,10

Australia 60.642,24

Denmark 59.683,76

Sweden 56.927,02

Canada 50.345,43

Netherlands 50.087,26

Austria 49.707,09

Finland 49.391,28

United States 48.441,56

Afghanistan 575,97

Mozambique 534,81

Tanzania 528,55

Guinea 501,99

Uganda 487,11

Central African Republic 482,72

Eritrea 481,73

Madagascar 466,66

Niger 374,45

Ethiopia 374,22

Sierra Leone 373,98

Malawi 370,61

Liberia 281,21

Burundi 271,24

Congo, Dem. Rep. 230,86



in terms of classification, we can note some of the

different ways societies have been conventionally

grouped on a global level.

three worlds system:

a traditional form of classification involves dividing

the globe into three distinct worlds, based on

levels of both economic wealth and political

ideology



three worlds system:

• first world – wealthy, industrialised, technologically

developed, capitalist economies of Western Europe, North

America and Japan.

• second world – relatively poorer industrial and semi-

industrial communist societies, such as the USSR and China.

• third world – relatively impoverished pre- and semi-

industrial nations with low levels of technological development

in Africa, South America and South East Asia.



two worlds system: an alternative classification (proposed by the 1980 Independent Commission on International Development Issues – the Brandt Report) focused on the idea of a ‘north–south’ global divide.

the most developed and wealthiest economies are largely found in the northern hemisphere and the poorest, least developed in the southern hemisphere.

economic

indicators:

why and when

are they

useful?

other forms of classifications:

«The Hamburger Standard» or

«Big Mac Index»

(The Economist)



the usefulness of economic indicators as

measures of development has been criticised

mainly because these indicators fail to take into

account factors (such as levels of health care,

income distribution, literacy…) that impact on a

society’s overall development



criticism:

• income distribtuion

• reliability

• quality of life

Development

A bridge with no river

A tall façade with no building

A sprinkler on a plastic lawn

An escalator to no where

A highway to the places

The highway destroyed

An image of a TV

Of a TV showing another TV

On which

There is yet another T.V

Eduardo Galeano, Las venas abiertas de América Latina (Open Veins

of Latin America), 1971



although economic development is an important aspect to consider, it arguably doesn’t tell the whole story.

in this respect we can note a number of possible social indicators of development, starting with what Badri (1994) identifies as political factors such as:

democracy

the basic idea here is that greater levels of social development are associated with a broad range of political freedoms, rights, relationships.

Source: Economist Intelligence Unit 2011



distributive justice

development should not be seen just in terms of political

freedoms and rights, but also in terms of how ‘basic human

needs’ are satisfied.

these might include areas like the provision of and access

to public goods and services (such as health care,

education…) as well as general measures of need relating

to demographic variables (infant and child mortality rates,

death rates, life expectancy)



cultural indicators

• levels of adult literacy and educational

opportunities

• access to basic services

• quality of life indicators (Drewnowski 1970,

Dellacasa 1979)

level of living index – Drewnowski 1970

• food: daily calorie per capita, daily protein per capita…

• housing: number of rooms, number of families living in a

house…

• health: access to public healthcare, diffusion of health

prevention practices…

• education: school enrolment, number of students

finishing courses, teachers/students rate…

• leisure: free time form work

• security: human security, life-style security…

• physical and social environment: communication

systems, travels, sport activities, cultural activities,

clothing, environmental context…

level of quality of life – Dellacasa 1979

individual level of living

• food: daily calorie per capita, daily protein per capita, daily

fat per capita…

• housing: number of rooms…

• health: life expectancy, child mortality

• education: school enrolment, number of graduate students

• security: murders, road accidents…

social level of living

• environmental hygiene: clean water, sewage system

• communication systems: telephones, post offices…

• mobilty: number of trains, number of roads per cars

• health: number of doctors, beds in hospital…

human development index (HDI)

«people are the real wealth of a nation»

«human development is the expansion of people’s freedoms to

live long, healthy and creative lives; to advance other goals

they have reason to value; and to engage actively in shaping

development equitably and sustainably on a shared planet.

People are both the beneficiaries and the drivers of human

development, as individuals and in groups»

http://hdr.undp.org/en/humandev/

• created in 1990 by Mahbub ul Haq, Amartya Sen and others

http://hdr.undp.org/en/humandev/


some of the issues and themes currently

considered most central to human development

include:

• social progress

• economics

• efficiency

• equity

• participation and freedom

• sustainability

• human security


how is it composed?

it could be used in combination with other indexes:

• gender inequality index

• multidimensional poverty index

• empowerment index

• sustainability and vulnerability index

• civic and community well-being index

gender inequality index (GII)

http://hdr.undp.org/en/data/build/

http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/tables/default.html

http://hdr.undp.org/en/data/map/

http://hdr.undp.org/en/data/build/

http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/tables/default.html

http://hdr.undp.org/en/data/map/


what is the relationship between economic growth

and changes in human development?

positive association—

though with substantial

variation—suggesting that

growth and improvements

in human development are

positively associated

a more useful exercise is to compare income growth

with changes in the nonincome dimensions of human

development. We do this using an index similar to the

HDI but calculated with only the health and education

indicators of the HDI to compare its changes with

economic growth.

lack of relationship

between changes in

income (growth) and

changes in the

nonincome

dimensions of

human

development.


what is the relationship between economic growth

and changes in human development?

example: comparison between Tunisia and China

life expectancy annually GDP

growth

child enrolment in school

1970 2010 1970-2010 1970 2010

China 63 75 8% annually - 68%

Tunisia 55 76 3% annually 52% 78%



«development studies in sociology emerged as

a distinct area of research in the post-war

period, and was associated with the growing

concern for the political and economic

development of the post-colonial world»

Oxford Dictionary of Sociology

looking for models that explain how and

why societies develop

modernisation theory • 1950 – 1975

• USA & Western European countries

• USA evolving as powerful context

• USSR consolidating its ideology and political structure

• western societies as model for development

• urbanization, territorial mobility

• development of social rights (education) and participation

• tradition VS modernity



modernisation theory

• this theory suggests that economic dimension alone is

insufficient and adds theories on institutional and social change

• incorporates non-economic elements such as social practices, beliefs, values and customs

• diffusion and speed of change is critical because various cultural and social barriers have to be removed

• backward internal structures-rather than external factors-cause underdevelopment




• development as endogenous process

• non-modern societies modernize

themselves coming into contact with

modern societies (transfert process)

• different steps are possible




• Inkeles: convergence towards a same model

• Lerner: diffusion process from modern society

(with endogenous development) to non-modern

society (with external development)

• Barrington Moore: conflicts that generate

development.

– bourgeois revolution (USA & UK)

– fascist revolution (Italy, Germany, Japan)

– communist revolution (USSR, China)




•Rostow: development through 5 stages of growth

1. traditional society

2. pre-conditions for take-off

3. take-off

4. drive to maturity

5. maturity

•McClelland: need for achievement, psychological

model for understanding development



dependency theory

•1960s-1970s

•North & South America, Europe

•object of analysis: underdevelopment

•the wealthy nations of the world need a peripheral

group of poorer states in order to remain wealthy.

Dependency theory states that the poverty of the

countries in the periphery is not because they are not

integrated into the world system, or not 'fully' integrated,

but because of how they are integrated into the system.



dependency theory • development and underdevelopment constitute the two

sides of the same coin: capitalism.

the periphery is underdeveloped because of the

development of the center.

• in the periphery, the development of capitalism leads to

dependent and unequal development (distorted, uneven,

and pathological form of modernization) and increasing

dependency.

• Wallerstein: world-economy, periphery, semi-periphery,

centre, external development

(Underdeveloped)

Periphery

(Developed)

Center

Flows of Wealth



globalization theory

– globalization refers to expanding worldwide flows of

goods, persons, symbols, ideas, ideologies, and

capital, entailing a time-space compression of lived

experience

the measurement of development and under-development in

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