8A.1

• Development is complex and is measured in several different ways

  can be measure economic development

  • GDP
  • GDP per capita (Per person)
  • shift from traditional industries to manufacturing
• can measure human development using composite measure eg HDI which combines economic and social aspects

  • health (life expectancy)
  • wealth ( income per person)
  • education (literacy rate)
• may not be a good idea to focus on wealth when talking about inequality bc comped relationship between income and life satisfaction

  • life satisfaction rapidly increases with wealth when incomes are low to begin with
  • some ppl are more satisfied with their income then they suggest(in many LICS) whereas some ppl are not satisfied at all (in some NEEs and HICs)
  • ppl in LICs and HICs have similar levels of life satisfaction despite having diff income levels
• can measure human development with the Happy Planet Index

  it doesn't actually measure happiness but combines

  1. life expectancy
  2. life satisfaction
  3. ecological footprint
• countries with the best HPI are not the highest in economic development but in the middle, bc they balance environmental and human development

  • low HPI= USA, Russia, ivory coast, chad, South Africa -> either have high income and poor environmental management or very poor countries, very unequal
  • medium HPI= Spain, India, uk, Indonesia, Brazil -> may lack extensive poverty and have good social conditions
  • high HPI= Vietnam, Costa Rica, Mexico, Colombia , Thailand -> middle income, NEEs and balance quality of life and environment
• no universal model for how a society should be run to max life satisfaction and wealth

  most HIC gov have a welfare state system (paid for with taxes) to provide

  • free education till a certain age
  • health services (can be free like the NHS)
  • basic essentials like a steady income, housing and social services for those who need it
• how these benefits are disturbed and how the welfare state operates varies from country to country

  • Bolivia = after President Evo Morales was elected in 2006, taxes were raised on profits of oil TNCs to >80% and this extra gov income was used to reduce poverty thro health and ed programmes, inc increasing the min wage by 50%
  • muslim countries -> shariah law influences how society is governed

  1. zakat = religious obligation to give specified amounts to help less fortunate ppl
  2. critic's of shariah argue that it encourages gender equality by giving women fewer rights then men
• Rosling (1948-2017) stressed how important health id in human development as by improving health life expectancy and environmental quality will help indvs income grow
• Morales tax distribution may be percieved as discouraging economic growth bc high taxes discourage tncs from investing and subsidies can undercut some prices

  • general consensus that for long term human development there needs to be an increase in economic growth
• Education is centre to human development

  it increases the value of human capital ( value of knowledge and skills etc)

  comes from schooling and continues during employment
• relationship between years in ed and income varies

  • low number of years in ed = poorly educated unskilled workforce = low earning capacity = low income
  • high income = gov ca have taxes to invest in ed = turns drive up future income
  • Norway = average years in ed = 12.7 years and has US$74986 income per person
  • Niger = average years in ed = 1.7 and income per person = US$555
• Education is not just important to economic growth

  high ed level = better understanding of HR and more likely to assert their HR if abused
• ed is not universal though

  level of ed varies with poverty and other things

  also gender inequalities with access to education

  • LICsub Saharan Africa = fewer girls finish primary school bc it costs money to send ppl to school so boys are prioritised
  • Middle East and North Africa = inequality bc boys are valued more for religious and cultural reasons so boys finish school at primary level
  • south asia = poor region but ed is highly valued so girls get more schooling then boys
• health = important to human development

  poor health = hinders development

  • childhood diseases -> stunting and poor cognitive development -> impacts ed in future
  • diseases eg malaria and HIV reduce capacity to work -> reduce earning capacity
  • have to spend a long time looking after ill relatives instead of working bc of poor health sectors
  • medical costs use up income that could be used for food, education and housing
• life expectancy varies in NEEs, 62 in nigeria and 78 in Cuba, and is only partly explained by wealth differences

  • Cuba life expectancy = same as USA but Cuba has invested more into healthcare, water supply and sanitation -> reduces disease despite being poorer than usa
  • Ethiopia = high levels of undernourishment -> increases risk for nutrition related disease eg scurvy and rickets -> increases vulnerability to other diseases
  • low access to safe water supply and poor sanitation spread waterbourne diseases like cholera
• although Nigeria is wealthier then Ethiopia it still has a bad life expectancy despite having less undernourishment and better water supply etc

  however other factors like a high prevalence of malaria in densely packed Lagos is important too
• Life expectancy (LE) varies in HICs too, but not as significant as in LICs

  average Japanese person lives 14 years longer then average Russian and can be explained by

  • lifestyle = poor diets, inactive, obesity, diabetes, alcoholism and heart disease -> reduce LE
  • diet = Japan and korean diet = more fish and veg then Western diets with more meat, fat and sugar better diets -> less risk of cancer and heart disease and joint illness
  • deprivation = 40% of ppl in Bulgaria are at risk from poverty despite eu membership
  • medical care = free or not, free = better le bc too expensive cant afford
• health within countries varies largely too eg the uk

  in Glasgow the LE is ~73 years whereas its 83 in Isle of purbeck and can be explained by

  • deprived post industrial cities = high male unemployment -> low income but also higher levels of smoking and alcoholism then national average 😟
  • poor diet in low income groups -> cheap fast food instead of veggies 😔
  • poor lifestyle and diet = high levels of heart disease, cancer, diabetes liver or kidney failure -> lower LE
• inequality in health and LE can result from ethnic differences

  • Australian with European ancestry live ~20 years longer then aboriginal ppl
  • new Zealand, white population live 11 years longer than indigenous maoris

  root cause of these differences = poverty

  • most Australian aborigines and Māori live in isolated rural areas with low paid jobs
  • high levels of alcoholism and drug abuse
  • expensive food and poor access to healthcare
• social progress = idea that societies can improve over time in economic human and environmental terms

  govs play a hugeeee role as they can prioritise

  • economic development -> spending money on infrastructure to attract foreign investment
  • human development -> spend money on ed and healthcare and benefits for disadvantaged groups, improve HR by promoting freedom and equality
  • environmental wellbeing -> reduce pollution, clean water, protect ecosystems
• govs do do these things but they don’t prioritise everything equally and this can be measured by the social progress index to see how well they provide for their ppl based on 3 factors

  1. basic human needs = nutrition, healthcare shelter etc
  2. foundations of wellbeing = ed internet access phones LE pollution levels
  3. opportunity = personal rights, political freedom, gender equality, tolerance of immigrants and access to advanced ed
• • democratic countries (Sweden and costa rica) spend lots of money on education and healthcare -> high SPI bc of welfare state
  • authoritarian (Russian and Ethiopia) run by elites -> provide way less to ppl = low SPI
• lots of countries operate as a neo liberal economic consensus -> economic development os focused on

  • free trade, little barriers such as import and export taxes, quotas on volume of exports
  • privatisation of gov owned and run industries so they are sold to private companies to maximise profits
  • deregulation of capital markets -> money can flow easily and quickly between banks businesses and countries

  supported by IGOs
• • world bank - provides loans to developing countries to help them develop their economies, funds projects like roads and hep
  • world trade organisation - promotes free trade thro negotiations between countries removing barriers to trade but progress has been slow since 1990s
  • international monetary fund - promotes global economic stability by intervening in countries that experience economic difficulties to reduce the risk of market crashes and recessions
• concerns about neo liberal consensus

  • benefits businesses and tncs more than ordinary ppl -> creates inequality
  • focuses on industrialisation in urban areas -> rural areas miss out on economic growth and development
  • focuses on profit and economic growth at expense of environment
• bc of these concerns IGOs and BINGOS (big international non governmental organisation which raise funds worldwide and assist ppl in many countries at the same time) have put programmes in place to have a greater social and environmental focus
• Programmes put in place by BINGO and IGOs

  • environmental quality= global environmental facility(GEF) since 1992 which fund environmental projects raising over US$20billion since 1992 and attracted >US$112billion from private indvs and businesses
• BINGO and IGO progammes

  • health = global fund to fight aids
  • tuberculosis and malaria set up in Geneva in 2002
  • by 2019 it raised US$42billion fighting diseases in NEEs
• BINGO and IGO programmes

  • education = 2019 UNICEFs education programmes reaching 12.4million children providing learning materials and training in 60,000 schools supporting children in crisis situations eg refugees
• BINGO and IGO programmes

  • human rights = fund for global human rights = NGO focused on HR since 2002 providing US$100million in grants to >600 local human rights groups worldwide
• UN millennium development goals (MDGs) - 8 goals to be achieved by 2015 = was set up in response to lack of development in South Asia and africa eg

  1. 1/2 proportion on ppl living on <US$1.25 a day
  2. 1/2 proportion of ppl suffering from hunger
  3. by 2015 all children can complete a full course of primary schooling
  4. eliminate all gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2015
  5. reduce by 2/3 the <5 mortality rate
  6. reduce by 3/4 maternal mortality ratio
• MDG aim to meet the basic needs; health, income, food supply, water and sanitation but is it successful?

  • health targets prevented 20mil death between 2000 and 2015
  • infant mortality in sub saharan Africa fell by 53%
  • numbers living in extreme poverty fell from 1.7bill in 2000 to 0.8bil in 2015
  • undernourishment fell from 20% to 13% 2000-2015
  • primary school enrolment increased from 83% to 91%
  • maternal mortality fell from 330 to 210 deaths per 100,000 live births
• • altho data seems successful, a large chunk of the success is from china, which hides the true extent of
  • the progress made in south Asia and Africa east Asia and Latin America = much better progress then other NEEs
  • gender equality has not improved much either, conflict in many countries ( Somalia,Yemen, DRC) has set progress back
  • 2015, 800mil ppl still live in extreme poverty and hunger in slum housing
• sustainable development goals replaced MDG from 2015-30 w/ new focus on sustainable development inc

  • clean energy
  • decent work
  • sustainable cities
  • protecting oceans and ecosystems
• covid may of affected SDG as HICs focused on their own health crisis and not funding overseas development

  • developing coutnires = last to receive vaccines
  • progress fro improving hunger HR and gender inequality may have stalled