Brandt Line (North- south divide)

CARIBBEAN STUDIES
Concept of Development
OBJECTIVES

 To describe the concept of sustainable

development and economic development.
 To identify the indicators of development.
 To explain how various indicators of development
are measured.
 To assess development in the Caribbean
DEFINING
DEVELOPMENT

 Economic Development: the ability of a country

to advance economically from a simple low
income economy to a modern high income
economy
 Development is referred to as the sustained level
of economic and social well being in a country.
GROWTH VS DEVELOPMENT

 Economic growth is not growth that equals

development.
 Growth occurs whenever statistics show
economic increase.
 Development occurs only when, along with
economic growth, there is evidence of increased
human well being and environmental
preservation
 SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
DEFINING SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT

 Development that meets the need of the present

generation without compromising the ability of future
generation to meet their own needs .
( Brundtland :1992)
 It contains within it two concepts:
 The concepts of ‘needs’ in particular the essential
needs of the worlds poor
 The idea of limitations imposed by the state of
technology and social organization on the
environment’s ability to meet present and future needs
 DEVELOPMENT
INDICATORS

 Definition:
 Usually a numerical measure of quality of life in a
country.
 Indicators are used to illustrate progress of a country
in meeting a range of economic, social, and
environmental goals.
 Since indicators represent data that have been
collected by a variety of agencies using different
collection methods, there may be inconsistencies
among them.
 ECONOMIC (MEASURES)
INDICES OF DEVELOPMENT

 Gross National Product and Gross Domestic

Product
 Industrialization
 Purchasing Power Parity
 Employment Level
 Level of local and Foreign Debt
 EXAMPLE: GNP/GDP

 GDP – Gross Domestic Product

 The value of output produced within a country during a time
period

 GNP – Gross National Product

 The value of output produced within a country plus net
property income from abroad

 GDP/GNP per head/per capita

 Takes account of the size of the population

 Real GDP/GNP
 Accounts for differences in price levels in different countries
NON ECONOMIC INDICES(MEASURES)
OF DEVELOPMENT

 Human Development Index

 Gender development Index
 Life Expectancy
 Levels of education
 Ratio of doctors to population
 Urbanisation
 EXAMPLE : HUMAN
DEVELOPMENT INDEX

 HDI – A socio-economic measure

 Focus on three dimensions of human welfare:
 Longevity – Life expectancy
 Knowledge – Access to education, literacy
rates
 Standard of living – GDP per capita:
Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)
INDICATORS OF
DEVELOPMENT

 1. Levels of income
 2. Productivity
 3. Social and Economic Equalisation
 4. Modern Knowledge
 5. Improved Institutions and attitudes
 6. Environmental Factors
 Increased freedom
 PRODUCTIVITY

 The amount of output per unit of

input.
 It relates to efficiency and cost
effectiveness in the production of
goods and services
 A ratio to measure how well an
organisation or industry or country
converts input resources into goods
and services
 MODERN KNOWLEDGE

 It refers to the influence of modernizing institutions

such as schools and factories which are thought to
promote urban , industrialized societies.
 Such knowledge emphasizes
 Efficiency
 Cost effectiveness
 Rationality
 Logic
 Planning and organizational skills
 SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC
EQUALIZATION

 This refers to the difference between social classes

in terms of income earned and the quality of life
experienced.
 Equality is difficult to achieve in the region
because of historical circumstances and political
realities
 Inequality is maintained as historically poor people
were able to access social mobility and move
towards wealth redistribution through education.
 INCREASED FREEDOM

 Increasing peoples freedom by enlarging the

range of their choice variables by increasing
varieties of consumer goods and services.
 It also includes
 Political freedom
 Rule of law
 Freedom of expression
 equality of opportunity
 ENVIRONMENTAL
SUSTAINABILITY INDEX

 The data sets cover a diverse range of variables

such as
 ambient pollution
 emissions of pollutants
 impacts on human health and
 being a signatory to international agreements
 PROS AND CONS OF
INDICATORS OF DEVELOPMENT

 The advantages of development indicators and indices

rest in the reason why they are created in the first place
– to simplify complexity.
 any indicator/index is only as good as the data upon
which it is built. Data sets can be poor quality as well as
good quality and there may well be gaps.
 There is also the hiding of intra-country variation to
consider. These may be consideration between urban
and rural populations, for example, or between
different regions. Some variables may also change
dramatically during the year – air pollution for example.
 PROS AND CONS OF
INDICATORS OF DEVELOPMENT

 An indicator/index is a product of the person(s)

who created it. This is obvious when stated but
the ramification is that there is potential for
human bias.