Measuring Development Flashcards
(14 cards)
What does looking at Development help?
Gives a fuller picture and is a better way to look at a country’s living standards - the level of social and human welfare (quality of life)
What is needed to measure development?
more indicators than just growth, inflation and unemployment
Why is quality of life important?
It is important when comparing two different country’s economies
eg. a rich developed country and a poor less economically developed country
What is the HDI?
The HDI was developed by the UN to measure and rank a country’s level of social economic development
What indicators does the HDI include?
Three weighted sections;
Health (life expec.)
Education (av + expected yrs in school)
Standard of living (measured by GNI per capita - PPP)
Why are those indicators used in the HDI?
Fairly standard around the world
Easy to collect
How is the HDI used?
- Measure changes in development levels over time in a country
- Used to compare these levels between countries
- Countries can be ranked in order - 1 the highest
- HDI is given as an index between 1 and 0
above 0.8 means high lvl development
0.8 - 0.5 suggests medium lvl
below 0.5 shows low lvl
What are the critics of the HDI?
Long Life expec is not the same as quality of life
Measuring av no. of years people spend in school measure the quality of teaching or how well people learn.
Using GNI p/capita can lead to inaccuracy - doesn’t include the hidden economy
HDI figure alone doesn’t measure the extent of inequality.
What is another way of measuring development?
% of adult male labour working in agriculture
It is hard work and they are paid little
as countries become more developed, machinery is used meaning fewer workers employed
If high % of popn working in this industry, generally they have low levels of development
What is another way other than HDI and agriculture to measure development?
Number of mobiles p/thousand of popn
They improve communication and trading = greater development
Large numbers could indicate wages are high enough to afford them
Other than HDI, agriculture and Phones, what are some indicators to measure development?
Lvls of disease and malnutrition
Lvls of Political and Social freedom
Energy Consumption p/head
Lvls of environmental impact and sustainability
Access to clean water
What are the three sectors of an Economy?
Primary - mining, agriculture
Secondary - construction and manufacturing
Tertiary - teaching, banking, tourism
How does development affect these sectors?
Less developed countries tend to have a bigger primary sector
More developed and wealthier countries have increased production and consumption (secondary sector will grow) - increase negative externalities and use of natural resources and the mechanising of primary sector
Continuation of development = tertiary sector will dominate - fewer natural resources used and produce less pollution
What is ‘happiness economics’?
tries to measure any factor with increased(decreased) subjective well-being (people’s satisfaction with life)
Happiness is tricky to measure - ‘psychological surveys’ claimed to give a reliable measure
