Measuring development

Question 1

Looking at Development can give a Fuller picture

Answer 1

1. Measurements of growth or unemployment are used to work out hte standard of living in a country, but often those figures don’t tell the full story. A better way to look at a country’s standard of living is to measure its economic performance
2. measuring economic development = trying to work out the level of social and human welfare - quality of life
3. to measure development, economists need more indicators than just economic growth, inflation levels and unemployment rates, to be able to get a fuller picture of the quality of life in a country
4. especially important when comparing the economies of two very different countries, e.g. the rich, economically developed country e.g. UK and a poor, less economically developed country e.g. Niger

Question 2

Human development index considers a broader range of indicators

Answer 2

1. human development index was developed by the United Nations to measure and rank countries’ level of social and economic development
2. HDI includes social indicators to give a fuller picture of quality of life
3. HDI combines indicators in three equally weighted sections:
   - Health (life expec)
   - Education (yrs in sch)
   - Standard of living (GNI per capita, PPP)
4. These figures are used because:
   - fairly standard around the world
   - relatively easy to collect

Question 3

HDI is used in different ways

Answer 3

1. HDI can be used to measure changes in development levels over time in a country
2. Can be used to compare the levels of development between countries
3. Countries are either ranked in order with country number 1 being the highest
   4 or HDI is given index with range between 1 and 0
   - Above 0.8 indicates high level of human development
   - Between 0.8 and 0.5 suggests a medium level of human development
   - Below 0.5 shows a low level of human unemployment

Question 4

HDI has critics

Answer 4

1. Long life expectancy- not same as high standard of Living - work long hours in unpleasant conditions
2. measuring average no of years in schooling doesnt measure quality of teaching
3. GNI-percapita figures => inaccurate comparisons, e.g. GNI per capita doesnt include the hidden economy, makes up a larger proportion o f the economy in less developed countries
4. HDI figure doesnt measure extent of inequality in a country - country with a satisfactory HDI rank may have very few wealthy ppl and a large number of v poor ppl

Question 5

Other ways to measure development

Answer 5

1. One way of measuring development = find percentage of adult male labour working in agriculture
   - agricultural work is v hard and workers are often paid v little
   - economic output from agriculture is usually quite low too
   - as countries become more developed => use more machinery for farming and employ fewer workers
   - as a result, countries with a high percentage of the popln working in agriculture generally have low levels of economic development
2. another measure = number of mobile phones per thousand of the popln
   - mobile phones improve communication and trading, which can lead to greater economic development
   - large number of phones indcates that wages are high enough for ppl to afford to pay them
3. other indicators: levels of disease, levels of malnutrition, newspapers bought per 100, energy consumption per head, levels of political and social freedom and access to clean water.
4. Genuine progress indicator (GPI) attempts to immprove on GDP as an economic indicator by including measures of the impact of economic growth on the environment, as well as various social factors.
   - GPI takes GDP into account, but also measures the negative effects of growth- negatives subtracted from positives
   - GPI also tries to get a fuller picture of people’s quality of life by measuring, e.g. costs of crime and value of volunteer work, housework and parenting