Measuring Development & Poverty

Question 1

How is development defined?

Answer 1

Thomas (2000): “A positive change in society”
Measured in: Economic growth, Education, Health, Democracy, Human Rights, Gender Equality, Happiness & Wellbeing, Sustainability, Poverty Rates

Question 2

What is economic growth?

Answer 2

The monetary value of the country’s produce increases over time, relative to other countries
1) Subsistence
2) Mass Production & Consumption
3) Service Industries

Question 3

How is economic growth measured?

Answer 3

Gross National Income (GNI) - the total value of all goods and services produced by a country in a financial year. Often given ‘per capita’ = dividing by the total population

Question 4

Problems with GNI as a measure of development

Answer 4

• Fast development is rarely sustainable (economically or environmentally)
• Failing to invest in sustainability leads to ‘boom and bust’, where those unable to save or buy assets will suffer

Question 5

Social measures of development

Answer 5

• Education (% in school, % of literacy)
• Health (IMR, MMR, # of hospitals)
• Democracy (free elections, voting rights)
• Gender Equality (pay, voting, life expect.)
• Human Rights (UN Human Rights)
• Happiness & Wellbeing (UN survey)
• Sustainability (Booom/Bust)

Question 6

What is the Human Development Index (HDI)?

Answer 6

A composite measure that combines 3 figures to produce a score
- GNI per capita
- Education (yrs in educ. by 25, expected yrs in educ.)
- Health (life expectancy)

Question 7

What is the UN’s Human Development Report?

Answer 7

A report that looks at humanist measures of development.
1) Multidimensional Poverty Index (MDI) - looks at more kinds of poverty
2) Gender Inequality Index (GII) - measures various women’s issues (eg. employment)
3) Inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI) - a total equality measure compared against HDI. Bigger difference - smaller score

Question 8

How do ‘Hyper Humanists’ suggest measuring development?

Answer 8

1) Gross National Happiness
2) Happy Planet Index
3) Good Country Index
4) Social Cohesion & Cultural Continuity

Question 9

What is poverty?

Answer 9

The inability to access a good standard of living, often relative to expectations in society.

Question 10

‘Three Worlds’

Answer 10

1948-1989
1) First World - industrial, capitalist
2) Second World - industrial, communist
3) Third World - everyone else
- Creating ‘them and us’ mentality

Question 11

‘Global North and Global South’

Answer 11

1970s-1990s
Northern hemisphere countries tended to be richer/more ‘developed’

Question 12

‘Majority and Minority Nations’

Answer 12

from 2000s
- Attempt to respect other cultures in definitions
- Majority are ‘Third World’, minority are ‘developed’

Question 13

‘Developed and Underdeveloped Nations’

Answer 13

2000s - current
- Implies some countries have missed out on development
- Focus on exploitation - neo-marxist

Question 14

‘Levels of Economic Development’

Answer 14

2000s - current
- MEDC = More Economically Developed Country
- LEDC = Less Economically Developed Country
- LLEDC = Least Economically Developed Country

Question 15

‘The Bottom Billion’ (Collier, 2007)

Answer 15

2007 - current
- Most (6.8B out of 7.8B) are developed or developing well
- Need to focus on Bottom Billion

Question 16

Current UN measures of poverty

Answer 16

• GNI for countries
• More difficult for individuals as we need to look at their poverty within their country
• World Bank: extreme poverty is <$1.25/day (15% in extreme poverty)

Question 17

Why is Poverty distributed in this way?

Answer 17

• Disease
• Access to Sea / Natural Resources
• Culture / Religion
• Beliefs about money & wealth (cap. v. comm.)
• Type of gov / political tensions
• Weather conditions / Climate
• History / Imperialism
• Corruption / Nepotism

Question 18

What did the UN propose to address poverty in 2000?

Answer 18

In 2000, the UN agreed to a set of foals that aimed to increase poverty. They set the target of completing them all by 2015.
- These were called ‘Millennium Development Goals’ (MDGs)
- There are lots of them, but for poverty the UN aimed to:
- ‘Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by 2015’
- Between 2000 & 2015, extreme poverty fell from 1.2B to 736M - c. 15%- - c.9%

Question 19

What did the UN agree to address poverty in 2015?

Answer 19

UN decides MDGs were mostly successful but we need to change focus. New ‘Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’ introduced in 2015.
- These have 17 goals
- Revisions include ‘eliminating poverty’ rather than ‘reducing poverty’ and a focus on protecting the environment
- Responsibility often passed from governments to NGOs such as Oxfam

Question 20

What criticisms have been made of the UN’s MDGs and SDGs?

Answer 20

• MDGs set absolute, unachievable goals without guidance
• SDGs are loosely defined, hard to monitor and too open to interpretation
• SDGs move responsibility away from government; onto charities
• MDGs failed so the UN just ‘moved the goalposts’ rather than learning lessons