NEW MODELS OF DEVELOPMENT Quiz

PDF page 187: This may seem like more of a philosophical question than one you’d find in a geography textbook, but it’s an important one to consider. In the previous section, we learned that the end-point of development is to arrive to a state of high mass consumption relying primarily on indicators of wealth, income, and production to evaluate one place compared to another. Do you think this a fair assessment or are there other ways to gauge development? Think about some of the things that make you feel good or bad about any particular place. Does it have good parks, safe roads, low levels of traffic, or lots of fun things to do? While some of those things are connected to income and wealth, some markers of development do not necessarily have to be connected to wealth. Indian economist and Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen argued that our understanding of development needed to be dramatically altered to include a capabilities approach to measuring, encountering, and improving people’s lives. In his book ‘Development as Freedom’, Sen argues that abject poverty comes from a lack of rights and the absence of freedom that are very different from simplistic notions wealth and poverty. For example, a country that produces a lot of oil like

PDF page 187: This may seem like more of a philosophical question than one you’d find in a geography textbook, but it’s an important one to consider. In the previous section, we learned that the end-point of development is to arrive to a state of high mass consumption relying primarily on indicators of wealth, income, and production to evaluate one place compared to another. Do you think this a fair assessment or are there other ways to gauge development? Think about some of the things that make you feel good or bad about any particular place. Does it have good parks, safe roads, low levels of traffic, or lots of fun things to do? While some of those things are connected to income and wealth, some markers of development do not necessarily have to be connected to wealth. Indian economist and Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen argued that our understanding of development needed to be dramatically altered to include a capabilities approach to measuring, encountering, and improving people’s lives. In his book ‘Development as Freedom’, Sen argues that abject poverty comes from a lack of rights and the absence of freedom that are very different from simplistic notions wealth and poverty. For example, a country that produces a lot of oil like

PDF page 187: This may seem like more of a philosophical question than one you’d find in a geography textbook, but it’s an important one to consider. In the previous section, we learned that the end-point of development is to arrive to a state of high mass consumption relying primarily on indicators of wealth, income, and production to evaluate one place compared to another. Do you think this a fair assessment or are there other ways to gauge development? Think about some of the things that make you feel good or bad about any particular place. Does it have good parks, safe roads, low levels of traffic, or lots of fun things to do? While some of those things are connected to income and wealth, some markers of development do not necessarily have to be connected to wealth. Indian economist and Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen argued that our understanding of development needed to be dramatically altered to include a capabilities approach to measuring, encountering, and improving people’s lives. In his book ‘Development as Freedom’, Sen argues that abject poverty comes from a lack of rights and the absence of freedom that are very different from simplistic notions wealth and poverty. For example, a country that produces a lot of oil like

PDF page 188: Saudi Arabia may demonstrate high GDP growth, but if it doesn’t positively affect the lives of most people in the country, then the GDP is not improving people’s lives in a meaningful way. As obvious as it may sound today, this transformative thinking drove the United Nations to redefine thinking on development as the organization unveiled its first annual Human Development Report (http:// www.hdr.undp.org) in 1990, which incorporated a brand new index, called the Human Development Index (HDI) (Figure 9.9). Instead of relying solely on income, the index is derived from indicators of 1) life expectancy, 2) adult literacy, 3) school enrollment, and 4) income to provide a meaningful comparison for almost all countries (a few countries like North Korea choose not to participate). The index provides reason for optimism in that 105 countries are now categorized as ‘very high’ (51 countries) or ‘high’ (54) human development with an HDI of .70 or higher. You can view the entire list of countries here: http://hdr.undp.org/en/ composite/trends, and the regional trends over time are included in Figure 9.10, which shows that the areas with the greatest improvement since 1990 have been East Asia and South Asia. Most notably, China moved from low human development to high and India moved from low to medium during the short period from 1990-2015. Sub-Saharan Africa contains the majority of those with the lowest levels of human development, but nearly every country experienced persistent improvement since 1990. Moreover, developing countries everywhere have seen improvements in educational access and life expectancy during the past 50 years. HDI helps us to quantify those improvements over time. One final point about this

PDF page 188: Saudi Arabia may demonstrate high GDP growth, but if it doesn’t positively affect the lives of most people in the country, then the GDP is not improving people’s lives in a meaningful way. As obvious as it may sound today, this transformative thinking drove the United Nations to redefine thinking on development as the organization unveiled its first annual Human Development Report (http:// www.hdr.undp.org) in 1990, which incorporated a brand new index, called the Human Development Index (HDI) (Figure 9.9). Instead of relying solely on income, the index is derived from indicators of 1) life expectancy, 2) adult literacy, 3) school enrollment, and 4) income to provide a meaningful comparison for almost all countries (a few countries like North Korea choose not to participate). The index provides reason for optimism in that 105 countries are now categorized as ‘very high’ (51 countries) or ‘high’ (54) human development with an HDI of .70 or higher. You can view the entire list of countries here: http://hdr.undp.org/en/ composite/trends, and the regional trends over time are included in Figure 9.10, which shows that the areas with the greatest improvement since 1990 have been East Asia and South Asia. Most notably, China moved from low human development to high and India moved from low to medium during the short period from 1990-2015. Sub-Saharan Africa contains the majority of those with the lowest levels of human development, but nearly every country experienced persistent improvement since 1990. Moreover, developing countries everywhere have seen improvements in educational access and life expectancy during the past 50 years. HDI helps us to quantify those improvements over time. One final point about this

PDF page 188: Saudi Arabia may demonstrate high GDP growth, but if it doesn’t positively affect the lives of most people in the country, then the GDP is not improving people’s lives in a meaningful way. As obvious as it may sound today, this transformative thinking drove the United Nations to redefine thinking on development as the organization unveiled its first annual Human Development Report (http:// www.hdr.undp.org) in 1990, which incorporated a brand new index, called the Human Development Index (HDI) (Figure 9.9). Instead of relying solely on income, the index is derived from indicators of 1) life expectancy, 2) adult literacy, 3) school enrollment, and 4) income to provide a meaningful comparison for almost all countries (a few countries like North Korea choose not to participate). The index provides reason for optimism in that 105 countries are now categorized as ‘very high’ (51 countries) or ‘high’ (54) human development with an HDI of .70 or higher. You can view the entire list of countries here: http://hdr.undp.org/en/ composite/trends, and the regional trends over time are included in Figure 9.10, which shows that the areas with the greatest improvement since 1990 have been East Asia and South Asia. Most notably, China moved from low human development to high and India moved from low to medium during the short period from 1990-2015. Sub-Saharan Africa contains the majority of those with the lowest levels of human development, but nearly every country experienced persistent improvement since 1990. Moreover, developing countries everywhere have seen improvements in educational access and life expectancy during the past 50 years. HDI helps us to quantify those improvements over time. One final point about this

PDF page 188: Saudi Arabia may demonstrate high GDP growth, but if it doesn’t positively affect the lives of most people in the country, then the GDP is not improving people’s lives in a meaningful way. As obvious as it may sound today, this transformative thinking drove the United Nations to redefine thinking on development as the organization unveiled its first annual Human Development Report (http:// www.hdr.undp.org) in 1990, which incorporated a brand new index, called the Human Development Index (HDI) (Figure 9.9). Instead of relying solely on income, the index is derived from indicators of 1) life expectancy, 2) adult literacy, 3) school enrollment, and 4) income to provide a meaningful comparison for almost all countries (a few countries like North Korea choose not to participate). The index provides reason for optimism in that 105 countries are now categorized as ‘very high’ (51 countries) or ‘high’ (54) human development with an HDI of .70 or higher. You can view the entire list of countries here: http://hdr.undp.org/en/ composite/trends, and the regional trends over time are included in Figure 9.10, which shows that the areas with the greatest improvement since 1990 have been East Asia and South Asia. Most notably, China moved from low human development to high and India moved from low to medium during the short period from 1990-2015. Sub-Saharan Africa contains the majority of those with the lowest levels of human development, but nearly every country experienced persistent improvement since 1990. Moreover, developing countries everywhere have seen improvements in educational access and life expectancy during the past 50 years. HDI helps us to quantify those improvements over time. One final point about this

PDF page 188: Saudi Arabia may demonstrate high GDP growth, but if it doesn’t positively affect the lives of most people in the country, then the GDP is not improving people’s lives in a meaningful way. As obvious as it may sound today, this transformative thinking drove the United Nations to redefine thinking on development as the organization unveiled its first annual Human Development Report (http:// www.hdr.undp.org) in 1990, which incorporated a brand new index, called the Human Development Index (HDI) (Figure 9.9). Instead of relying solely on income, the index is derived from indicators of 1) life expectancy, 2) adult literacy, 3) school enrollment, and 4) income to provide a meaningful comparison for almost all countries (a few countries like North Korea choose not to participate). The index provides reason for optimism in that 105 countries are now categorized as ‘very high’ (51 countries) or ‘high’ (54) human development with an HDI of .70 or higher. You can view the entire list of countries here: http://hdr.undp.org/en/ composite/trends, and the regional trends over time are included in Figure 9.10, which shows that the areas with the greatest improvement since 1990 have been East Asia and South Asia. Most notably, China moved from low human development to high and India moved from low to medium during the short period from 1990-2015. Sub-Saharan Africa contains the majority of those with the lowest levels of human development, but nearly every country experienced persistent improvement since 1990. Moreover, developing countries everywhere have seen improvements in educational access and life expectancy during the past 50 years. HDI helps us to quantify those improvements over time. One final point about this

PDF page 188: Saudi Arabia may demonstrate high GDP growth, but if it doesn’t positively affect the lives of most people in the country, then the GDP is not improving people’s lives in a meaningful way. As obvious as it may sound today, this transformative thinking drove the United Nations to redefine thinking on development as the organization unveiled its first annual Human Development Report (http:// www.hdr.undp.org) in 1990, which incorporated a brand new index, called the Human Development Index (HDI) (Figure 9.9). Instead of relying solely on income, the index is derived from indicators of 1) life expectancy, 2) adult literacy, 3) school enrollment, and 4) income to provide a meaningful comparison for almost all countries (a few countries like North Korea choose not to participate). The index provides reason for optimism in that 105 countries are now categorized as ‘very high’ (51 countries) or ‘high’ (54) human development with an HDI of .70 or higher. You can view the entire list of countries here: http://hdr.undp.org/en/ composite/trends, and the regional trends over time are included in Figure 9.10, which shows that the areas with the greatest improvement since 1990 have been East Asia and South Asia. Most notably, China moved from low human development to high and India moved from low to medium during the short period from 1990-2015. Sub-Saharan Africa contains the majority of those with the lowest levels of human development, but nearly every country experienced persistent improvement since 1990. Moreover, developing countries everywhere have seen improvements in educational access and life expectancy during the past 50 years. HDI helps us to quantify those improvements over time. One final point about this

PDF page 188: Saudi Arabia may demonstrate high GDP growth, but if it doesn’t positively affect the lives of most people in the country, then the GDP is not improving people’s lives in a meaningful way. As obvious as it may sound today, this transformative thinking drove the United Nations to redefine thinking on development as the organization unveiled its first annual Human Development Report (http:// www.hdr.undp.org) in 1990, which incorporated a brand new index, called the Human Development Index (HDI) (Figure 9.9). Instead of relying solely on income, the index is derived from indicators of 1) life expectancy, 2) adult literacy, 3) school enrollment, and 4) income to provide a meaningful comparison for almost all countries (a few countries like North Korea choose not to participate). The index provides reason for optimism in that 105 countries are now categorized as ‘very high’ (51 countries) or ‘high’ (54) human development with an HDI of .70 or higher. You can view the entire list of countries here: http://hdr.undp.org/en/ composite/trends, and the regional trends over time are included in Figure 9.10, which shows that the areas with the greatest improvement since 1990 have been East Asia and South Asia. Most notably, China moved from low human development to high and India moved from low to medium during the short period from 1990-2015. Sub-Saharan Africa contains the majority of those with the lowest levels of human development, but nearly every country experienced persistent improvement since 1990. Moreover, developing countries everywhere have seen improvements in educational access and life expectancy during the past 50 years. HDI helps us to quantify those improvements over time. One final point about this

PDF page 189: residents in Tennessee, Mississippi, and West Virginia struggle with access to basic health care and have unemployment rates much higher than in other parts of the U.S. The small country of Bhutan has taken a novel approach to measuring its own development by considering one factor above all others – happiness. Rather than measuring GDP, it closely monitors gross national happiness as a barometer of the spiritual, physical, social and environmental health of its citizens and natural environment. As stated by the Minister of Education, “It’s easy to mine the land and fish the seas and get rich. Yet we believe you cannot have a prosperous nation in the long run that does not conserve its natural environment or take care of the wellbeing of its people.” As you may have noticed, none of the indicators of development presented in this chapter take into account the well-being of the environment or the long-term cost of development. As people become wealthier, they consume more of the earth’s resources. The Bhutan model might seem a little strange to the average American student, but it is one of the few models that takes seriously the notion of environmental sustainability as a component of development.

PDF page 189: residents in Tennessee, Mississippi, and West Virginia struggle with access to basic health care and have unemployment rates much higher than in other parts of the U.S. The small country of Bhutan has taken a novel approach to measuring its own development by considering one factor above all others – happiness. Rather than measuring GDP, it closely monitors gross national happiness as a barometer of the spiritual, physical, social and environmental health of its citizens and natural environment. As stated by the Minister of Education, “It’s easy to mine the land and fish the seas and get rich. Yet we believe you cannot have a prosperous nation in the long run that does not conserve its natural environment or take care of the wellbeing of its people.” As you may have noticed, none of the indicators of development presented in this chapter take into account the well-being of the environment or the long-term cost of development. As people become wealthier, they consume more of the earth’s resources. The Bhutan model might seem a little strange to the average American student, but it is one of the few models that takes seriously the notion of environmental sustainability as a component of development.