Defining and Measuring Development

• Wealth is a function of what, how, and where.
• Development: progress made in technology, production, socioeconomic welfare

Gross National Incowme §

• GNP measures total value of officially recorded goods and services produced by citizens/corporations of a country in a year (includes inside and outside country)
• GDP measures only inside of country
• GNI is GDP + income from outside of country
• per capita: standardization of above measures
• Examples
  • Japan: per capita GNI of $31,410
  • US: per capita GNI of $41,950
  • Indian: 3460
  • Nigeria: 1040
  • Indonesia: 3720
• GNI only measures formal economy, or legal economy
• informal economy keeps people in countries w/ low GNI pc alive
• GNI does not count for internal disparity
  • UAE has per capita GNI > 24k, but
    • Abu Dhabi: >50% of GDP
    • Dubai: 25% GDP
    • Qaywayn: <1%
• GNI doesn’t count for harm done by products -> alternative measurements

Alternative Measurements §

• occupational structure of labor: people in farming vs people in tech jobs
• productivity per worker: production per capita
• transportation and communication facilities per person: infrastructure for econ per capita
• dependency ratio: ratio of dependents to employed
  • bad demographic -> high dr
• other measurements from before
  • literacy rate
  • infant mortality
  • etc
• still do not account for different levels of development within a state

Development Models §

Different couyntries develop differently: take Japan (agrarian -> industrial) vs Sudan for example.

Criticisms of development models:

• Western bias in indicators of development (industry can hurt poor countries)
• doesn’t consider geography/interrelations
• treates states as autonomous (goes against Wallerstein’s World-Systems Theory)

Rostow’s Modernization Model §

5 stages of development §

1. traditional
   • farming
   • rigid social strucutre
   • conservative tech
2. preconditions
   • new leader -> progressive
3. takeoff
   • kinda industrial revolution
   • sustained growth
   • urbanization + industrialization
4. drive to maturity
   • tech diffusion
   • industrial specialization
   • international trade expand
5. high mass consumption
   • high production + income
   • majority of work is services
   • core

Shortcomings §

• climbing up ladder is function of many nations not just one
• international position
• cultural differences
• industrialization not necessarily good
  • foreign investment -> foreign benefits
  • environment damage