Human Development in Poor Countries: On the Role of Private Incomes and Public Services
01 Feb 1993-Journal of Economic Perspectives (American Economic Association)-Vol. 7, Iss: 1, pp 133-150
TL;DR: A conceptual underpinning for this approach can be found in the work of Amartya Sen as discussed by the authors, who argued that human development is the overriding purpose of economic development, rather than income growth of one sort or another is what development is all about.
Abstract: Development is often taken to mean rising incomes. Discussions of the "goals of development" now often emphasize the reduction of poverty, rather than raising average incomes per se. The role of social services—particularly basic health and education—has also received greater emphasis in the 1980s, viewed mainly as instruments for raising the incomes of the poor. But, in all these approaches, income growth of one sort or another is what development is all about. A rather different view of the meaning of development has recently found expression in the 1990 Human Development Report (HRD) produced by the United Nations Development Programme. A conceptual underpinning for this approach can be found in the work of Amartya Sen. The essence of this view is that human development—what people can actually do and be—is the overriding purpose of economic development. Underdevelopment is viewed as the lack of certain basic capabilities, rather than lack of income per se. We do not aim here to advocate one of these approaches over the other, but rather to explore their implications for development policy. For instance, what does the human development approach imply about the role of economic growth and, in particular, about reducing income poverty? Should development priorities shift toward the provision of public services in poor countries, even if such a shift is at the expense of income growth?
Citations
More filters
TL;DR: In this article, the authors suggest that the material norms on which judgments of well-being are based increase in the same proportion as the actual income of the society, and that raising the incomes of all does not increase the happiness of all.
Abstract: Today, as in the past, within a country at a given time those with higher incomes are, on average, happier. However, raising the incomes of all does not increase the happiness of all. This is because the material norms on which judgments of well-being are based increase in the same proportion as the actual income of the society. These conclusions are suggested by data on reported happiness, material norms, and income collected in surveys in a number of countries over the past half century.
2,883 citations
Cites background from "Human Development in Poor Countries..."
...Recent work in normative economics, however, has increasingly focused on alternative approaches to the social good and their policy implications (see Anand and Ravallion, 1993; Hahnel and Albert, 1990; Hausman and McPherson, 1993, and the review of Sen’s research by Sugden, 1993)....
[...]
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors assess how much India's poor shared in the country's economic growth, taking into account its urban-rural and output composition, and find that output growth in the primary and tertiary sectors reduced poverty in both urban and rural areas but that secondary sector growth did not reduce poverty in either.
Abstract: Using a new series of consistent, consumption-based poverty measures spanning forty years, the author assess how much India's poor shared in the country's economic growth, taking into account its urban-rural and output composition. Rural consumption growth reduced poverty in both rural and urban areas. Urban growth brought some benefits to the urban poor, but had no impact on rural poverty. And rural-to-urban population shifts had no significant impact on poverty. Decomposing growth by output sectors, we found that output growth in the primary and tertiary sectors reduced poverty in both urban and rural areas but that secondary sector growth did not reduce poverty in either.
1,936 citations
TL;DR: Evidence has accumulated pointing to socioeconomic factors such as income, wealth, and education as the fundamental causes of a wide range of health outcomes, and plausible pathways and biological mechanisms that may explain their effects are reviewed.
Abstract: During the past two decades, the public health community’s attention has been drawn increasingly to the social determinants of health (SDH)—the factors apart from medical care that can be influenced by social policies and shape health in powerful ways. We use “medical care” rather than “health care” to refer to clinical services, to avoid potential confusion between “health” and “health care.” The World Health Organization’s Commission on the Social Determinants of Health has defined SDH as “the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age” and “the fundamental drivers of these conditions.” The term “social determinants” often evokes factors such as health-related features of neighborhoods (e.g., walkability, recreational areas, and accessibility of healthful foods), which can influence health-related behaviors. Evidence has accumulated, however, pointing to socioeconomic factors such as income, wealth, and education as the fundamental causes of a wide range of health outcomes. This article broadly reviews some of the knowledge accumulated to date that highlights the importance of social—and particularly socioeconomic— factors in shaping health, and plausible pathways and biological mechanisms that may explain their effects. We also discuss challenges to advancing this knowledge and how they might be overcome.
1,856 citations
01 Sep 2008
TL;DR: The authors presents a story of two Chinas, an entrepreneurial rural China and a state-controlled urban China, and uses the emerging Indian miracle to debunk the widespread notion that democracy is automatically anti-growth.
Abstract: Presents a story of two Chinas – an entrepreneurial rural China and a state-controlled urban China. In the 1980s, rural China gained the upper hand. In the 1990s, urban China triumphed. In the 1990s, the Chinese state reversed many of its rural experiments, with long-lasting damage to the economy and society. A weak financial sector, income disparity, rising illiteracy, productivity slowdowns, and reduced personal income growth are the product of the capitalism with Chinese characteristics of the 1990s and beyond. While GDP grew quickly in both decades, the welfare implications of growth differed substantially. The book uses the emerging Indian miracle to debunk the widespread notion that democracy is automatically anti-growth. As the country marked its 30th anniversary of reforms in 2008, China faces some of its toughest economic challenges and substantial vulnerabilities that require fundamental institutional reforms.
1,081 citations
Cites background from "Human Development in Poor Countries..."
...Sen (1999, p. 44) quotes from research by Anand and Ravallion (1993) that shows broadly defined human development is not solely a function of average income....
[...]
Posted Content•
1,080 citations
References
More filters
Book•
01 Jan 1920
TL;DR: Aslanbeigui et al. as mentioned in this paper discussed the relationship between the national dividend and economic and total welfare, and the size of the dividend to the allocation of resources in the economy and the institutional structure governing labor market operations.
Abstract: The Economics of Welfare occupies a privileged position in economics. It contributed to the professionalization of economics, a goal aggressively and effectively pursued by Pigou's predecessor and teacher Alfred Marshall. The Economics of Welfare also may be credited with establishing welfare economics, by systematically analyzing market departures and their potential remedies. In writing The Economics of Welfare, Pigou built a bridge between the old and the new economics at Cambridge and in Britain. Much of the book remains relevant for contemporary economics. The list of his analyses that continues to play an important role in economics is impressive. Some of the more important include: public goods and externalities, welfare criteria, index number problems, price discrimination, the theory of the firm, the structure of relief programs for the poor, and public finance. Pigou's discussion of the institutional structure governing labor-market operations in his Wealth and Welfare prompted Schumpeter to call the work "the greatest venture in labor economics ever undertaken by a man who was primarily a theorist." The Economics of Welfare established welfare economics as a field of study. The first part analyzes the relationship between the national dividend and economic and total welfare. Parts II and III link the size of the dividend to the allocation of resources in the economy and the institutional structure governing labor-market operations. Part IV explores the relationship between the national dividend and its distribution. In her new introduction, Nahid Aslanbeigui discusses the life of Pigou and the history of The Economics of Welfare. She also discusses Pigou's theories as expressed in this volume and some of the criticisms those theories have met as well as the impact of those criticisms. The Economics of Welfare is a classic that repays careful study.
5,145 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1985
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the relationship between well-being and Sex Bias in India and some international comparative comparisons of the two domains, and present a survey of the relationship.
Abstract: 1. Interest, Well-being and Advantage. 2. Commodities and Their Use. 3. Utility, Desire and Happiness. 4. Functioning and Well-being. 5. Valuation and Ranking. 6. Information and Interpretation. 7. Well-being and Advantage. Appendix A: Some International Comparisons. Appendix B: Well-being and Sex Bias in India. Subject Index. Name Index.
4,734 citations
4,200 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an "informational" approach to moral analysis focusing on the admissibility and use of different types of information in moral valuation has been proposed to bring out the content, scope, and limitations of different moral principles.
Abstract: The main aim of Dewey lectures is to explore a moral approach that sees persons from two different perspectives: well-being and agency. Both the "well-being aspect" and the "agency aspect" of persons have their own relevance in the assessment of states and actions. A second objective is to examine a set of metaethical issues, making use of an "informational" approach to moral analysis which focuses on the admissibility and use of different types of information in moral valuation. Informational analysis can be used to bring out the content, scope, and limitations of different moral principles. A few examples may help to illustrate the diversity of ways in which informational constraints may be used through the specification of invariance requirements. Authorship invariance does have some claims to being a reasonable requirement of moral evaluation. The possibility of combining position relativity with authorship invariance is also the reason why positionality of moral valuation is perfectly consistent with objectivity of moral values.
2,168 citations