The Development Discourse

'Human development'

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



INTRODUCTION

John Maynard Keynes is considered a pioneer in traditional economic development by many academics (Rapley, 1996) because; he forwarded the perspective that development is fostered by economic growth, which was highly validated by quantification. Economic growth - 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 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.


CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

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, "Keynes 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 Keynes 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, defense, 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.


References


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Friedman, Milton. 1955. The Role of Government in Education. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1173402/posts (published on 07/17/2004 4:04:55 PM PDT by Remember_Salamis, viewed on February 27, 2005)