Human development

Paul Andrew Bourne, M.Sc. (candidate), B.Sc. (Hons.), Dip. Education



THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK

John Maynard Keynes is considered a pioneer in traditional economic development by many academics (Rapley, 1996). He forwarded the perspective that development is fostered by economic growth. This is a change in economic activities of a country due to an increase in the production of goods and service when saved over time is primarily responsible for development. Keynes' theorizing was adopted from Adam Smith's early theorizing on development. Their views were that economic development was fostered by a smoothly runned capitalist economy (Rapley, 1996 pp. 6-7). According to Rapley (1996, pp.7) "state interventions to relieve poverty would inhibit initiative, and would stifle investment because they would rely on increased taxes." Dr. Rapley cited position is a clear indication of the stance taken by all traditional economists. That perspective is of development is primarily driven by economic growth and the free market. Post World War II economists like Lewis also concurred with classicalists like Smith and Keynes that development is primarily economic. According to John Rapley (1996), he said that "Lewis argued that in a Third World economy, the wage rate was set at a constant level as determined by minimum levels of existence in traditional family farming. This ensured a virtually unlimited supply of cheap labour, which as an advantageous factor in industrial development (Rapley, 1996 pp.16).

Rapley (1996) cited that "Modernization theory sprang from what has been called the behavioural revolution, a shift in US social scientific thought that began in the late 1940s and continued through the 1960s. (pp. 16). This position was a new era in the conceptualization of development beyond the traditionalists perspective to that including behavioural factors. Professor Michael Todaro (2000) who is considered to be the father of contemporary development wrote that, "in strictly economic terms, development has traditionally meant the capacity of a national economy, whose initial economic condition has been more or less static for a long time to generate and sustain an annual increase in its gross national product (GNP) at rates of perhaps 5% to 7% or more." This perspective represents the classicalists' viewpoint and fashions even today's developmentalists' stance. But Todaro (2000) emphasized that development since the 1970s has been reconceptualized to include "reduction or the elimination of poverty", and "inequality and unemployment" (pp. 14). He further cited that development should be "a multidimensional process involving major changes in social structures, popular attributes and national institutions, as well as the acceleration of economic growth, the reduction of inequality, and the eradication of poverty." This new conceptualization formulates all modern perspective on development. Todaro (2000) definition of development includes not only the traditionalists' perspective on development but expanded it to encapsulate social structures and governance. He added that development include three core values, "sustenance", "self-esteem" and "freedom." Marks (1986) a sociologist concurred with Professor Todaro (2000) that "social change includes both development, underdevelopment and underdevelopment. Development implies some positive progress in a society's condition whereas underdevelopment implies decline or stagnation" (pp. 180). It is on this basis that development will be used for this research. Development will not be analyze within any economic perspective as this is already well established and so development herein will be social.


SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

The established perspective on development has forwarded a causal relationship between development and economic growth for centuries (Todaro, 2000). Developmentalists, on the other hand, have argued their position within a shorter duration which insights the researchers quest for knowledge. The researcher has read Professor Todaro (2000) Economic Development and has contrasted this with other perspectives and as such wants to test the statistical significance that development is also social and political. Therefore, the researcher investigated the relationship between expenditure on social programmes and the extent of civil liberties, and levels of development.

Main Objective

1.0 To investigate the relationship between the expenditure on social programmes and extent of individuals' civil liberties, and the levels of development.

Specific Objectives

1.1 To determine the relationship between public expenditure on education and the levels of development;

1.2 To ascertain whether or not if total expenditure on health positively impact on levels of development;

1.3 To examine the relationship between the extent of individuals' civil liberties and levels of development.



Hypotheses


General hypothesis:

There is a strong positive relationship between expenditure on social programmes and the extent of individuals' civil liberties, and levels of development.

Limitation

The fact that this was a secondary data set (Nations Data Set) relationships that were established statistically may be due to Type I error. This error may be due to the number of missing values in the data set. In the case of the bivariate relationship between expenditure on education and development of the 174 countries within the sample only 114 of them recorded a valid response (i.e. 65.5 percent response rate). As it relates to total expenditure on health and development the valid cases response rate was (81.6 percent). And as it relates to the valid cases response rate between the extent of individuals' civil liberties and development it was 94.8 percent.


LITERATURE REVIEW

Adam Smith, founder of the classical school, believed that industrialization owes itself to the general nature of economic progress and particular causes of capitalistic development (The Keynesian Theory of Economic Development by Kurihara, 1959, p.13). He believed that development was possible through technological progress of capital and by laissez-faire system (the free market - "Individualistic Capitalism"). According to Kurihara (1959, p.14), "This proposition of Adam Smith anticipates Keynes's retrospection that the slow rate of progress in the pre-capitalistic period was due to two retarding factors, namely, (a) ?'the remarkable absence of important technical improvements' and (b) ?'the failure of capital to accumulate." Freidrich List (Kurihara, 1959, p.15) was another advocate of industrialization through "economic nationalism in general and through protectionism in particular." Kurihara (1959, p. 15) wrote, "His theory of economic development still has a powerful appeal to present-day underdeveloped economies that are politically independent but economically dominated by advanced economies." Based on Kurihara's proposition of Freidrich's perspective, development was influenced by political system, cultural change and by extension governance.

Karl Marx's theorizing on economic development was interpreted within the construct of ?'economic interpretation of history' and ?'the motivating forces of capitalistic development'. The latter perspective of Marx concurred with Adam Smith's theorizing on development. Marx further his theorizing beyond that of Smith's perspective when he that, "[Marx] ?'materialistic' conceptual of historical evolution, according to which economic institutions, while they are products of social evolution, are themselves capable of influencing the course of social progress." Although Marx partially supported Smith's theorizing on economic development, he ventures into non-economic explanations of development. He, however, had a casual and distant relationship with the sociological factors.

John Maynard Keynes (born 1883 and died 1946) advocates some of a Classical school perspective on development. Kurihara (1959) said that, "Keyness suggested that the future rate of economic progress would depend on (a) ?'our power to control population', (b) ?'our willingness to entrust to science the direction of those matters which are properly the concern of science,'(c) ?'our determination to avoid wars and civil dissensions', (d) the rate of accumulation of fixed by the margin between production and our consumption."(Kurihara, 1959, p.19). Of the factors that Keyness did theorize, only one is economic. Based on Kurihara's writings, ?'our power to control population' is governance and political, ?'our determination to avoid wars' is social, cultural and political, and as such indicates that economic progress is highly improbable without human, social political and cultural change and development.

Professor Sir Arthur Lewis, a Caribbean scholar and Noble laureate for his contribution to the economics profession, in ?'The Review of Black Political Economy (1989)' reviewed by James B. Steward wrote that, "Racial Conflict and Economic Development presents deceptively incisive analyses of how race affects a variety of phenomenon including discrimination, colonialism, entrepreneurship, dual labour markets, and the international economic order." Lewis' theorizing was primarily economic and so he built his model within an economic construct. He failed just like the other Classical economists to divulge a position on cultural, social and psychological factors in regards development. Lewis a positivist was highly concerned with building scientific model. He used time series and descriptive statistics to provide the blocks upon which he derived his theorizing.
"Development economics is the study of how human economic circumstances change over time and how they can be made to change." (Hogendorn, 1987:1, pp.1). This perspective by Hogendorn supports the traditionalists' position that development is solely economic. They argue that growth is the primary cause of development. Growth is broadly defined as an increase in output or income and the term development speaks to structural, institutional, and qualitative changes that expand a country's capabilities. The mechanism used to measure this concept is gross national product. As such, the Classical economists (traditionalists) believe that growth can lead to development. They also suppose that development is not possible with growth. This position advocates that production is growth but infrastructural change is development. This idea supports pollution, deforestation, degradation, and depletion of the environment in support of development. Such a stance has given rise to various advocates of sustainable development as against economic development. With this new thrust, the scope of development encompasses the environment; social, economic and political factors in addition to the new emphasis on the quality of peoples' live in the future.
King (2001) in Social and Economic Studies wrote that, "The budgetary allocations to the health sector also have implications for social equity." It is clear from Dr. King's postulation that government spending on health care influences the quality of life of peoples within a country. This determinant of the quality of life is not limited to health but spans education, defence, political system and governance. King (2001) forwarded that position that, "One fifth of the education [Jamaica] budget is being used on tertiary education, which does not benefit the lowest quintile." Although King's finding was as stated, the actuality is that the quality of life of peoples who attain tertiary educational institutions and by extension the society benefits there from. It appears that Dr. King is incognizant of the multiplier effect of single dollar spent on educating one university graduate. Milton Freidman (1955) in an article titled The Role of Government in Education posited that:
"A stable and democratic society is impossible without widespread acceptance of some common set of values and without a minimum degree of literacy and knowledge on the part of most citizens. Education contributes to both.

In consequence, the gain from the education of a child accrues not only to the child or to his parents but to other members of the society; the education of my child contributes to other people's welfare by promoting a stable and democratic society. Yet it is not feasible to identify the particular individuals (or families) benefited or the money value of the benefit and so to charge for the services rendered. There is therefore a significant "neighborhood effect."

Friedman's (1955) position, therefore, contradicts Dr. King's (2001) stance. If democracy is highly improbable with a minimum degree of literacy, then public spending on education in and of itself is a factor of improvements in the quality of peoples' lives. This position concurs with noble prize winner Professor Michael Todaro's (200) three (3) objectives of development. Dr. Friedman in his article "The Role of Government in Education" argued that the value of educating a child does not end with the individual but extends to the society a factor Dr. King failed to "ingredientized" in his position forwarded earlier.

Professor Todaro credited Adam Smith for being the first development economists (Michael Todaro, 2000). He wrote that, "his Wealth of Nations [Adam Smith], published in 1776, was the first treatise on economic development, the systematic study of the problems and processes of economic development in Africa, Asia, and Latin America." Although Friedman lauded Smith for his pioneer work he cited that "I disagree with this viewpoint" (Todaro, 2000: p. 7). He [Todaro], although an economist, believed that development spans a plethora of other factors beyond the traditionalists view on the subject. The distinguished modern economist cited that, "there are non-economic variables, values, attitudes and institutions" (Todaro, 2000: pp. 13). It is this perspective that will forge shift away from the economic stance of development to a sociological perspective.

According to Musgrave (1970) who edited "A Model for the Analysis of the Development of the English Educational System from 1860" by P. W. Musgrave wrote, "the development of the educational system of a country is one specific but central example of social change'. If educational system is a mechanism of "social change, then spending thereon must increase of quality of the human capital to society. Any change in the social position of an individual's life transforms his/her social status - development. It is through the educational system that a society transforms itself. This socio-political transformation is a change in the degree of development of this society. Professor Munroe (2000) in "Introduction to Politics" forwarded the position that democracy and governance are critical indicators of development of a society. Dr. Orville Taylor, a developmental sociologist, argued that social institutions are yardstick in measuring the development of a society. Therefore, both distinguished academics have forwarded a position that clear indicate that development goes beyond the traditional definition of development. Professor Todaro in "Economic Development" (Todaro, 2000: 1 and 2) outlined this position.

Sociologists agree that school, church, peer group influence socialization and political institution, therefore, any modernization of the education system will enhance an improvement in the human and social capital (Haralambos et al., 1996). Education is a process of transformation and so although it may not be cost in regards to its benefits to the recipient, any value added to individual by this process therefore modernized society. This modernization is referred to as development (Munoz, 1981:1 pp.1). Munoz (1981) wrote that, "The end of World War II marked the beginning of fundamental transformations in world affairs. The defeat of the Axis powers and the devastating toll which the war had exacted on Britain and the European allies propelled the United States into a position of economic and military preeminence." Munoz's arguments concur with Todaro's stance and further strengthen the position that development is multifaceted. Based Munoz's writings, political education, political transformation and social change are ingredients in development.
Although Dr. King's (2001) findings revealed a particular position and it appears that his position does not support investment in tertiary education, Dr. Milton Friedman's (1955) postulation clearly showed that there are benefits to be had from investment in education. This investment in educating a populace transforms the peoples' social position. Any improvement in the social position of peoples' lives influence the quality of their lives. In order to emphasis the limitedness of traditionalists approach to development, a quotation from Hogendorn will be used that summarizes that scope. According to Hogendorn (1987), "The standard measures of output and income are gross national product (GNP), gross domestic product (GDP), and national income. These tools are universally used. But there are problems with measuring output and income. Even greater difficulties beset the employment of these tools to measure well-being or satisfaction or the standard of living or to judge the "progress" of different countries." It follows therefore that political system and governance must affect of the quality of peoples' existence. In that, a particular political system may contract the quality of peoples' lives. The examples here are political system in Haiti. This system often times curtails education, health care and democracy that are components of development.
Rasheed (1998) in "development" wrote, "Generating and sustaining high growth rates, eradicating poverty and promoting human development require deliberate far-reaching transformations that go well beyond the standard economic reform measure. " This position is shared by Professor of development economic Michael Todaro. He (latter) argued that although economic progress is significant for development, development also relies on political system, social characteristics, governance, integration, investing in human development and boosting self-reliance. Although Todaro is a development economist and Rasheed a developmentalist, they converge on new approach to development as against the Classical economists (including the founder of development theory, Adam Smith). In reference to Rasheed's position, development is simply not a simple one variable linear model (the one variable being, economic growth) but a multiple regression model of many components include human social development. When one reads Rasheed's theorizing it may be understood that this is limited to Africa but the same was said by Todaro an American, and as supported by other nationalists in this paper. From a Caribbean perspective, Dr. Marie Freckleton et al (1993) wrote, "development strategies for the 1980s [included] accelerating programmes for the development of human resources in every relevant field."
"We shall take by way of illustration here probably the most influential model, propounded by Walt Rostow (1962). In it emphasis on the psycho-cultural prerequisites of development . . ." (Vicky Randall et al 1998: pp. 24). Rostow's theorizing, Modernization Theory, is a clear position that development is primarily not economic but multi-faceted, and that it includes psychological as well as cultural factors as ingredients
Although Rostow's theorizing clearly showed "sociological thinking", modernization theory showed the stages through which an economic travels before development is possible. Those stages are indication that development is not a one linear model as purported by Adam Smith and other Classical Theorists. The classical school's theorizing can be contrasted with contemporary developmentalists' perspective on the issue of development. John Toye (1987) a contemporary developmentalist wrote that, "It is important not to confuse economic growth, the expansion of the measured output of goods and services, with development." He continued that, "For example, output can be produced by the severe exploitation of labour - the payment of mere subsistence wages, bad health and safety conditions and the unfair treatment of workers - with the resulting profits being channeled to private bank accounts in foreign tax havens." The perspective forwarded by developmentalists is wider in scope of the subject matter than forwarded by classicalists or neo-classicalists. This is so because subsistent living, poor health and unsafe environmental conditions may result in economic growth.
The various theorizing and past research findings are sole reason why this paper is forwarded a perspective that human development is directly related to levels of development. In order to ascertain whether development's scope is beyond economic development, the researcher will use public expenditure on health and education and other variables with the human development index to establish causality. The researcher chose not to use GDP or GNP as theorizing has indicated that they are unable to adequate measure welfare.


METHODOLOGY

This research examined the relationship between "expenditure on social programmes and the extent of individuals' civil liberties and levels of development". It is primarily seeking to establish relationships between expenditure on health and education and the extent of individuals' civil liberties, and levels of development by way secondary data analyses. The objective of the researcher is to provide internal validity of the study, which, will rely totally on the scientific methods, precise measurement, value free sociology and impersonality. The researcher used secondary data (i.e. Nation Data Set) taken from 174 countries. This data set was compiled from the following sources:
- Freedom in the World;
- Human Development Report;
- Institute of Democracy and Electoral Assistance;
- State of the World Atlas;
- Coded by John McCormick, Comparative Politics in Transition, (New York: Wadsworth, 1995);
- The New Book of World Rankings;
- Statistical Abstract of the United States, published annually by the US Department of Commerce;
- The Progress of Nations, UNICEF, 1996
- Dan Smith, The State of War and Peace Atlas, 1st Edition, London: Penguin, 1997
- Coded and calculated by Rodney Stark
- Corruption Perceptions Index, Transparency International, 1998;
- World Development Report;
- World Values Study Group
- World Christian Encyclopedia, David B. Barrett, editor, Oxford University Press, 1982;
- The World Almanac and Book of Facts;
- The World Factbook, published annually by the Central Intelligence Agency.

The variable description for each variable uses different abbreviations to indicate source. That will be provided by the department of Government in the Faculty of Social Sciences.

The study will design its approach similar to that of the natural science by using logical empiricism. This will be done by precise measurement through statistics (Pearson Correlation). By using hypotheses testing, value free sociology, logical empiricism, cause-and-effect relationships, precise measurement through the use of statistics and survey and deductive logical with precise observation, this study could not have used the interpretivists' paradigm. As the latter seeks to understand, how people within their social setting construct meaning in their natural setting which is subjective rather than the position taken in this research - an objective stance. Conversely, this study does not intend to transform peoples' social reality by way of empowerment but is primarily concerned with unearthing a truth that is out there and as such, that was the reason for the non-selection of the Critical Social Scientist paradigm.


Hypotheses


General hypothesis:

There is a strong positive relationship between expenditure on social programmes and the extent on individuals' civil liberties, and levels of development.

Specific hypotheses:
A. There is a strong positive relationship between expenditure on health care and levels of development;
B. There is a strong positive relationship between public expenditure on education and levels of development
C. There is a strong direct relationship between extent of individuals' civil liberties and levels of development.

VARIABLES:
Independent variables
EXPENDITURE ON SOCIAL PROGRAMMES:
Expenditure on Health (variable name - PUB HEALTH)
Expenditure on Education (variable name - PUB EDUCAT)
CIVIL LIBERTIES
Extent of individuals' civil liberties (variable name - CIVILLIB)
Dependent variable
LEVELS OF DEVELOPMENT - Human Development Index (HDI) -
(variable name HUMAN DEV.)
CONCEPTUALIZATION


EXPENDITURE on HEALTH

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) health refers to, "a state of complete physical, mental and social well being of an individual, and not merely the absence of diseases or infirmity".

EXPENDITURE on EDUCATION

WorldNet 2.0 stated that education is "instruction, teaching, pedagogy, educational activity -- (the activities of educating or instructing or teaching; activities that impart knowledge or skill)". For this paper, the term education will be pedagogy (i.e. the work of a teacher; the art and science of teaching; instructional methods and strategies).

LEVELS OF DEVELOPMENT

For the purpose of this study, this variable will be measured based on the Human Development Index (H.D.I) "it measures the average achievements in a country in three (3) basic dimensions of human development:
- A long and healthy life, as measured b y life expectancy at birth.
- Knowledge, as measured, by the adult literacy rate (with two third weight) and the combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio (with one third weight)
- A decent standard of living, as measured by G.D.P per capital (PPP.US$).

"Development has been treated by economists as if it were nothing more than an exercise in applied economics, unrelated to political ideas, forms of government, and the role of people in society. It is high time we combine political and economic theory to consider not just ways in which societies can become more productive but the quality of the societies which are supposed to become more productive-the development of people rather than the development of things" (Professor of Development Economics: Michael P. Todaro, 2000). Therefore, for this paper, development is the degree of the political system, forms of governance, economic development and quality of life of people in a society.

QUALITY OF LIFE OF PEOPLE
"The level of wellbeing of life style and the physical conditions in which people live."
www.soton.ac.uk/~engenvir/glossary.html - Definition in context

OPERATIONALIZATION

EXPENDITURE on HEALTH

This variable will be measured based on the sum of expenditure public expenditure on health (see Nation Data Set, pubhealth). The level of measurement of this variable is ratio as it is a percent of the Gross National Product (i.e. total money value of goods and-or services produced by an economy).

EXPENDITURE on EDUCATION

This item will be measured based on public expenditure on education (see Nation Data Set, pubeduca). The level of measurement of this variable is ratio as it is a percent of the Gross National Product (i.e. total money value of goods and-or services produced by an economy).



LEVELS OF DEVELOPMENT


For the purpose of this study, this variable will be measured based on the Human Development Index. The Human Development Report (2001) saw this terminology as "It measures the average achievements in a country in three basic dimensions of human development:
- A long and healthy life, as measured by life expectancy at birth
- Knowledge, as measured by the adult literacy rate (with two-thirds weight) and the combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio (with one-third weight)
- A decent standard of living, as measured by GDP per capita (PPP US$).

QUALITY OF LIFE
This will be measure by using the human development, and the physical quality of life index

Population

The Nation Data Set comprises a number of secondary data sources. The final data set was a merged file of related issues on development. It was taken from a sampled population of 174 countries.



ANALYSIS PLAN

The Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 12.0 was used to analyze the data. The method of analyses was Pearson's correlation testing that determine any relationships existed between the variables. Contingency coefficient was used to determine the strength of any relationship that may exist between variables. The level of significance that will be used is alpha=0.05, at the 95 percent confidence level (CI).

For further readings on this research contact Paul Bourne at '[email protected]'