|
Post-Autistic Economics Network
|
Student Essays on Post-Autistic Economicsposted April 2003 The Case
for “Development from Below” Introduction: The Evolution of the Development Discourse
A concept of ‘development’ defined solely in economic terms has evolved, perhaps not surprisingly given its roots in classical economics (Todaro, 2000:8,14). Development is associated with attaining high or ideally full employment and, most importantly, continued growth in income levels as measured by a nation’s gross national product (GNP). Critics argue that this perspective continues to dominate “First World”1 thinking, even though per capita GNP has long been acknowledged as merely “a crude index of economic development” (Lipsky et. al. 1973:848). How, then, has ‘growth’ come to be viewed as practically synonymous with ‘development’? Sachs argues that the answer can be traced to a particular moment in history: Epochs rise slowly, but the development era opened at a
certain date and hour. On 20 January 1949, it was President Harry Truman who,
in his inauguration speech before Congress, drawing the attention of his audience
to conditions in poorer countries, for the first time defined them as
‘underdeveloped areas’… The Northern
countries, in particular the U.S., were running ahead, while he saw the rest
of the world – with its absurdly low per capita income – lagging far behind.
An image that the economic societies of the North had increasingly acquired
about themselves was thus projected upon the rest of the world: the degree of
civilization in a country is to be indicated by the level of its production… (1993:4).
What factors explain the emergence of alternative theories of development, a perspective that rejects the classical economic interpretation? One recurring theme is the recognition of the need to elaborate theories to better understand the conditions under which development does or does not occur. Policy prescriptions based on conventional economics have failed to adequately remedy the enormous disparities that continue to separate the developing from the developed world. For example: ·
It is estimated that in 1998, more than one-quarter
of the people in the world’s poorest regions had an income of less than $U.S.
1.00 per day (World Bank, 2001). ·
Although the infant mortality rate2 in
both developed (OECD)3 and developing countries decreased between
1970 and 1999, the difference between the two rates doubled over the same
period: compared to developed countries, infant mortality in developing
countries was 5 times higher in 1970, and 10 times higher in 1999 (World
Bank, 2001). ·
While life expectancy for people in developing
countries rose from 55 years in 1970 to 64 years in 1999, it still lagged far
behind the average life expectancy of 78 years (1999) in the OECD countries
(World Bank, 2001).
·
By 1997, forests were disappearing or being
degraded at a rate of 14 million hectares a year4; ·
In some parts of the world, water usage is so high
relative to supply that “surface water supplies are literally shrinking and
ground water reserves are being depleted faster than they can be replenished
by precipitation”5; ·
An estimated ninety percent of the developing
world’s wastewater continues to be discharged untreated into local rivers and
streams (Barlow, 1999:8). “Development from
Below”: The Emergence of an Alternative Paradigm
Ekins, a principal proponent of the alternative
paradigm, which he terms the New
Economics, is careful to point out that “the aim of the New Economics, as
of conventional economics, is to facilitate economic development. The
difference derives from its interpretation of the word ‘development’…”
(1986:43). Five basic principles of “development from below” were first
outlined in a 1975 report of the Dag Hammarskjöld
Foundation entitled What Now: Another
Development. Specifically, development is conceived as: ·
Need-oriented,
responding to both material and non-material human needs; ·
Endogenous,
that is, derived from locally determined priorities; ·
Self-reliant,
with an emphasis on maximizing community strengths and resources; ·
Ecologically
sound, with attention to sustainable and equitable resource use; ·
Based on
structural transformations in social, economic and spatial relationships in
order to foster the participative decision-making required to achieve the
above four principles (in Ekins, 1992:99-100). Development from
below is also the philosophy and action of learning from below (Ekins, 1986): development
from below seeks to consult first with “those who are last” in determining
the development agenda. Re-Examining the
Goals: The Growth vs. Development Debate
Development from
below, on the other hand, is concerned more with the equitable distribution of income; it seeks to satisfy
basic needs (Stöhr and Taylor, 1981), to increase
human welfare (Ekins, 1986:8), and to foster
diversity and complementarity by addressing the
needs of the producers, the consumers and the local community (McRobie, 1986:xii). It is concerned with making people
“more productive, creative and self-reliant” and strengthening “the support
systems of family and community” (McRobie, 1986:xi;
also Graham, 1986:19)). More recent conceptualizations include goals such as
the liberation or empowerment of people to make their own choices (Bradfield,
2000:27). Development from
below rejects entirely the assumption that “growth is good and more is
better” (Ekins, 1986: 8-9), on the grounds that
growth confuses the means of
development with its ends. Although
economic growth may be one way of improving human welfare, when defined in
conventional economic terms (as measured by gross national product), it falls
far short of providing an adequate measurement of more encompassing visions
of development. For one thing, GNP
takes no account of how consumption or wealth is distributed. Countries that have
recently undergone aggressive economic restructuring serve to illustrate this
point. For example, the GNP of Bolivia, considered “one of the most
successful economic adjustment programs of the postwar
era” (Larraín & Sachs, 1998:145; CIDA, 2001), grew by an impressive rate of 4% per annum
between 1990 and 1999 (CIDA, Ibid). Nevertheless,
there is evidence that GNP growth did not benefit the majority of Bolivians.
Their country remains one of the poorest in the hemisphere, and continues to
rank lowest or next-to-lowest of the South American countries on a broad
range of social indicators. Fully half (50%) of the national income (GNP)
accrues to the wealthiest 20% of the population, while the poorest 20% earn
only 5.6%. Furthermore, the
differences in income and social conditions between Bolivia’s urban and rural
populations are dramatic. While female illiteracy is 15% overall, it reaches
50% in rural areas. The poor constitute 52% of the urban population, and a
full 82% of the population in rural areas. Clearly, GNP growth falls far
short of being an adequate measure of the overall ‘development’ of human
well-being and potential. Critical to
understanding the alternatives offered through development from below is the
importance placed on articulating the concept of human need. Max-Neef (1986:49) argues that human needs must be understood
as a system of interrelated needs “of having” and “of being”, including
“permanence (or subsistence), protection, affection, understanding,
participation, leisure, creation, identity (or meaning) and freedom” (Idem).
Thus, housing, food and income, while typically thought of as basic needs,
are viewed instead as satisfiers of
the fundamental need of subsistence. While fundamental needs remain constant
in time and space, “what changes, both over time and through cultures, is the
form or the means by which these needs are satisfied” (Idem). Thus,
participatory decision-making ‘from below’ about how a society will satisfy
its needs is the essence of the alternative paradigm. Conclusions
·
Putting first what those who are last want and
need; ·
Understanding their situation, resources and
problems; ·
Combining these to determine program and research
priorities (Ibid: 319). In Sach’s (1987:24) words, development planning must be
“committed, contextual, contractual and participative” if it is to fulfill its aim of achieving qualitative development in
place of imbalanced and unsustainable growth.
Endnotes 1. Todaro (2000:744),
following the classification systems of the United Nations, the World Bank,
and others, defines the First World as
the “now economically advanced capitalist countries of Western Europe, North
America, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan” that were the first “to
experience sustained long-term economic growth.” 2. Number of infant deaths per 1,000 live births. 3. Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development. 4. Based on scientific evidence presented at the
June 1997 UN General Assembly Special Session, cited in Khor
(1997:8). 5. Information from World Resources, a publication of the United Nations Environment
Program, the World Bank and the World Resources Institute, cited in Barlow
(1999:6).
References Barlow, M. 1999. Blue Gold: The Global Water Crisis and
the Commodification of the World’s |