GALLARDO JOHN MITCHELL M.

1. What is the framework of the de-development of rich countries all about?

The de-development framework focuses on the shifting of the idea about

development from economic growth to life expectancy and happiness. In the
said framework, it is aimed to make the richer countries “catch down” or in
simpler terms, slow down and match the pace of other poorer countries
instead of the latter “catching up” and forcing a country to be as rich as the
other countries to rich economy.

2. How is the de-development framework different from traditional frameworks

of development?

The traditional framework of development for the past 70 years is “Growth”, It

has been the cause of overconsumption that we have already grown
accustomed to, a bit more and we will be overshooting our planet’s
biocapacity by more than 50% every year. For this reason, Peter Edward
argues and suggests that instead of pushing poorer countries to “catch up”
with rich ones, we should be thinking of ways to get rich countries to “catch
down” and lessen their development pace to more appropriate levels, which is
also known as de-development framework.

3. According to Jason Hickel, how do rich countries de-develop?

In the article that Hickel wrote, he said that to de-develop, the individuals or
consumers in a rich country should buy more and own less. Having high GDP
per capita does not mean that it is equal to being happy. It was also mentioned
by Hickel in the article that he wrote about how Costa Rica manages to
sustain one of the happiest indicators and life expectancies in the world with
per capita income one-fourth of the US.

4. Some people might think that de-development is about giving things up. How
does Hickel explain that this is not the case?

Hickel said in his article that using such terms is repulsive because they run
against the deepest frames we use to give some thought to human progress,
and, indeed, the aim of life itself. It’s like asking people to prevent moving
positively through life, to prevent learning, improving, and growing. Hickel
thinks that their use of language gives the person, who doesn’t really know
much about it, a false idea of what de-development really means.