Human Development Flashcards
How is human development measured through economic measures?
GDP per capita - the total value of goods and services produced by a country divided by its total population. GNI includes earnings made from abroad. The purchasing power parity (PPP) is used to measure the relative purchasing power of different countries’ currencies. For example, a dollar has different purchasing power around the world.
Issues with GDP and GNI
- They are averages which are skewed by extremes.
- Doesn’t take the informal economy into account. In Uganda, the informal economy has an estimated value of 60% of its GDP
- Subsistence farming doesn’t generate income so isn’t included
- Only measure economic development
What is the Happy Planet Index?
A composite measure of development is calculated using the following formula:
HPI = experienced well-being (scale of 0-10) x life expectancy x inequality of outcomes / ecological footprint
It therefore takes into account both social and environmental measures of development however is highly subjective and lacks measures of economic development.
What is the Human Development Index?
A composite measure of development using the following 4 measurements:
Life expectancy
Mean years of schooling
Expected years of schooling
GNI per capita
All factors are equally weighted and it includes both social and economic (but not environmental) measures of development.
How are Western models of development contested?
Sharia Law:
Theft punishable by amputation of the right hand
A Muslim who becomes non-Muslim can be sentenced to death
A non-Muslim man who marries a Muslim woman can be punished with the death penalty
Men can have 4 wies, women can have 1 husband
Women aren’t allowed to drive
Men are allowed to beat their wives
A woman is not allowed to speak alone to a man who isn’t a relative or her husband.
Bolivia under Evo Morales:
He has helped lift 500,000 Bolivians out of poverty however 25% of the population still live on less than $2 per day. morales believes in a socialist route of development nad lacks interest in developing the educational system, improving equality and freedom of speech. This may be in order to suppress his people and ensure he remains in power.
The importance of education
Education allows people to know their rights, making them more likely to stand up against injustice in order to protect their rights. It is also important for economic development as it improves the skill set of the younger population allowing them to pursue higher-paying jobs to increase the wealth of the country.
However, only 49% of countries have achieved gender parity in primary education and only 24% in secondary education. Girls face barriers such as poverty, child marriage and gender-based violence - preventing them from attending school. Poor families will often favour their sons when investing in education as they cannot afford education for all their children.
Education for girls is important for the following reasons:
Drastically increases lifetime earnings of women and therefore increases national growth rates
Decreases child and maternal mortality rates
Decreases child marriages.
The importance of health, life expectancy, environmental quality and human rights for development.
Some (such as Swedish academic Hans Rosling) believed such factors are essential for economic growth. For example, without a good stable government which enforces human rights, the education and healthcare system will be lacking - reducing economic productivity. Poor health means fewer people can attend work or school - thus impeding economic growth. Others believe that economic development is needed first in order for such improvements to be seen.
