| Collection of 36 essays surveying the current thinking on global economic development |
ADVANCING DEVELOPMENT — Core Themes in Global Economics: George Mavrotas, Anthony Shorrocks — Editors; Palgrave Macmillan, Handmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG 21 6XS.
This book opens with a perfunctory foreword by Amartya Sen, who as one of the founders of the World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER) in Finland 20 years ago, claims part responsibility for the name of the institute. It was intended to have a broad area of research in development economics. It demonstrates that WIDER has achieved this objective in the first 20 years of its existence. The flavour of this broad approach is given in this review.
It is difficult to understand who the book is meant for. It has 36 essays that range from country experiences to conceptual themes, many of which are not easy reading. It is a book that will certainly grace library shelves and be occasionally referred to for one or the other of its essays. That is a pity since it contains excellent essays on the dynamics of economic development.
The essays are categorised under seven parts: four essays each on development economics in retrospect; inequality and conflict; human development and well-being; globalisation; three on development finance; five on growth and poverty; seven on development strategies, and six on development economics in prospect.
Development paradigm
It traces the broadening of the definition of development that moved from GNP growth as objective, to growth and employment, satisfaction of basic needs, and now to enhancement of human welfare and the reduction of multidimensional poverty to be achieved through a pattern of pro-poor growth. At the same time development theory moved from one-sector models to dualistic ones, distinguishing between urban and rural sectors; to distributional issues and measurement of poverty; structural issues giving way to the role of institutions and markets in the development process; and planning being replaced by markets as the engines of development with a minimisation of the role of governments.
It argues for heading off disasters before they happen, through enlightened and visionary leadership. However, it accepts the role of chance and participatory decision-making as well as the availability of funds. India has travelled this route. Markets, globalisation, incentives, and private sector, are common parameters for measuring and stimulating development today. We now add social indicators as part of development strategies. India’s experience shows that human development will not naturally accompany economic development without special measures by government.
Need for integration
In this context the meaning of economic development as the reduction of deprivation, discrimination and conflict leads to the need for policies that integrate economic development with human rights and conflict reduction.
One essay perceptively argues that some inequalities are maintained by laws of property and economic relationships; land ownership deriving from colonial times; operation of legal systems and international law. It resurrects Thomas Paine’s innovative proposal on equality by giving each young person a capital sum to make a start in the world and an annual pension beyond age 50.
Another essay points to botched liberalisation and regressive tax reforms in some developing and transition economies that have affected health and health inequality. A causal spiral is traced from inequality to corruption (and back again) and from both inequality and corruption to lower levels of trust.
Human security in the form of freedom from want and fear are interrelated. Interdependence of political, security, economic and social aid activities needs to be better acknowledged and international donors should support a more integrated and unified framework for planning political, security, humanitarian, economic and development activities at a country level.
The book should have acknowledged the critical role played by Mahbub-ul-Haq who initiated the annual Human Development Report of the UNDP. The Human Development Index that this Report created is a benchmark for countries for their development. It has since been used to measure human development at local levels (in India, states, districts, even villages).
The Sachar Report on the human development indicators of Muslims is a child of these measurements. The NCAER conducted large-scale surveys to measure human development by states and for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the majority-minority in each state (for example, Muslims in Uttar Pradesh).
These disaggregated measures are useful for evolving policies that aim at including all social classes in the gains from development.
Social capital
The essays argue for investing in health for economic development: an analysis of health expenditures in different countries shows that there is much room for improvement both in efficiency and equity. There is found to be a straightforward positive effect of aid on development outcomes, contrasting with existing literature showing mixed results about impact of aid on per capita GDP. This is perhaps because the authors of this essay look at the effects of aid on human development, unlike others who do so only at labour productivity.
Social capital is defined as informal institutions that are codes of conduct and conventions of behaviour. An interesting distinction is made between “deep” and proximate determinants of development affecting factor accumulation or total factor productivity affecting incomes. “Deep” in this context refers to underlying norms, as against the easily visible ones like institutions and procedures. The better demographic indicators for Muslims in India despite low economic status and literacy may be due to such a “deep” determinant.
The vastness of this book’s coverage makes it impossible to do justice to its contents. Despite its length, the book is an excellent survey of the thinking on development.
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