Lectures International Development
Lecture 1 – 8/2: What is development?
Introduction
Tentamen: 50% meerkeuze en 50% open vragen.
Todays topics:
• Course introduction
• What is development?
• How do we measure development?
• Are we making progress in development?
Course introduction
Goals in this course:
• Explain why some places are more developed than others
• Diagnose why development initiatives frequently fail
• Propose solutions that have proven evidence of success in boosting development
What is development?
What is development?
• Good change
• The pratice of development agencies > they only have a job because development is needed,
because many countries are still poor etc.
• The manner in which people are able to live and die
• Etc etc
Who are we developing?
• ‘’The third world’’
• ‘’Underdeveloped’’ > hierarchy
• ‘’Less-developed’’ > hierarchy
• ‘’Developing’’ > every country is developing
• ‘’Low and middle income’’
• ‘’The Global South’’
• ‘’Everyone’’
What are we developing?
• Economic development
• Political development
• Social development > health care, education etc
• Subjective development > personal well being, hapiness etc
How do we combine these multiple dimensions? Development is multidimensional.
Modernization theory
There is a lineair transition from the same traditional start to the same modern end:
• Increasing GDP per capita
• Increasing urbanization
, • Increasing education
• Etc
These things go together. Its about complementarities. When you get democracy, you get more
wealth.
Subjective development
What people see as development differs from where theyre from. Development can be political or
about having sheeps for example. Its different per country.
Article Sen (1992) development as freedom
He focuses on freedom and not on income. What matters is not the income but what you can do
with it. And you can’t buy everything. Needs vary: resources are converted into capabilities. The
value of having options is important, not what you end up doing. Its about positive freedom, not
about interference. Its about freedom to. Do you have the freedom/capability to become a teacher?
Freedoms let people choose what they value.
Freedom to do what?
• Participate in politics
• Engage in economic transactions
• Social opportunities through education and health care
• Transparency during interactions
• Security of life
What limits freedom?
• Slavery, violence
• Poverty
• Poor public services
• State restrictions on activities
• Lack of opportunities
Freedom, not income:
• Not all ends can be bought
• Needs vary: resources are converted (omgezet) into capabilities
• The value of having options, not what you end up doing > capabilities matter, not
functionings
Freedom/capabilities as positive freedom:
• Are you able to achieve your goal?
• Not: is anyone interfering to stop you achieve your goal? (negative freedom)
Why freedom?
• Intrinsic reason: freedom matters in itself, for everyone
• Instrumental reason: freedoms promote other freedoms
For example democracy prevents famine but also matters for political freedom in itself.
Development is about complementarities, not trade-offs (this is the modernization theory). But
freedoms let people choose what they value (this is subjective development).
We can decide what freedom we find important ourselves. So the focus is on different concepts.
For measurement/policy we still need to specify which freedoms matter. How do we choose? For
Sen, this is what demcracy is for. But how do we know what citizens from autocratic countries find
,important? Its not just a philosophical question. Politics is conflict between people who value
different dimensions of development. People from the city want other things than people from the
countryside. It also depends on age/generation. What development is, is a political question.
Sustainable development
Sustainabe development = development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising/hurting the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Think of climate change. Conflict between freedoms of people today, using natural resouces to have
maximal economic freedom, and freedom of people in the future, having the same opportunities.
Are continued economic growth and environmental sustainability compatible?
• The ‘’development’’ route to sustainability
− Rapid technological innovation will help solve us problems like climate change.
− Wealth and education reduce fertility, reducing environmental pressures.
− The Kuznets curve: if you’re poor, environment worsens and if you’re richer,
environment will be better.
• The ‘’sustainability’’ route to development
− Tackling environmental challenges will stimulate new innovations and investments
− Conserving assets improves their productivity
− Avoiding climate stresses prevents conflict and boosts yields (uitkomsten/winsten)
Post-development critiques
1) The discourse of development makes people think of themselves as underdeveloped.
Development agencies say ‘’youre poor we want to help you.’’ This way, people start thinking
theyre poor.
2) Development is an imposition of power and hierarchy
− A weapon of the cold war and post-colonialism > control
− Development as ‘’planned poverty’’
− ‘’A top down, ethnocentric and technocratic approach’’
− Westernization and eradicating diversity
3) Development has failed on its own terms
− Rising inequality
− There is still a lot of poverty etc in the world.
But in general there also has been a reasonable amount of success.
4) Development is an industry
− Governments, NGOs, Foundations etc
− Reliant on the continuation of poverty > only a job if there’s poverty.
− Lobbying governments for new contracts
− Governments seeking markets for their companies
How do we measure development?
Challenges of measuring development:
• Multi-dimensional, frequent
• Lack of data collection capacity in countries that matter most
• Representative data on the most vulnerable is challenging > the poorer people live in the
rural areas, not in the capital city. Its hard to get access to those people.
• Hard to attribute progress to specific policies when many things change at the same time
Human Development Index (HDI)
Life expectancy, years of schooling, GNI per capita. There is no political dimension > UN has to be
diplomatic.
, Measuring HDI before 2010: the income could compensate for poor health. This didn’t represent
human development. So the methodology changed after 2010. More income cant directly
compensate for poor health.
Multidimensional Poverty Index
It measures at the individual level.
Are the people who lack income also the people who lack healthcare?
This is a % of people who are poor in at least a third of the indicators.
It varies per country. Ethiopia and Leshoto: same HDI, but different MPI. In Leshoto its seperated. If
you don’t have education, you might have health care. In Ethiopia, the people who lack health care,
are also the people who lack edudcation and income. Experience of poverty is more intense.
Sustainability
The HDI and MPI:
• Reward resource use
• Ignore consequences for future generations
Ecological footprint:
• How much biologically productive area (land/water) it takes to provide for all the competing
demands of people
• How much resources on average is every person using?
• 1,75 earths would be required to support current activities
We can compare the HDI to ecological footprint. Green box in the figure is what we want: high HDI
and low ecological footprint. But there are no countries in that box. Lots of countries have a low
ecological footprint but a low HDI.
Are we making progress in development?
2030: poverty will be an African phenomenon. Some African countries are poorer now than they
were 55 years ago. Poverty is increasing because of Covid. There are also reductions in HDI.
Conclusion
• What is development?
− Contested: development as competing interests over many possible freedoms
− Including freedoms of future generations: sustainability
− Development actors are not neutral
• How do we measure development?
− Many imperfect measures: all are simplifications and value judgements
• Are we making progress in development?
− Quickly, but very unevenly and with recent reversals due to Covid
− Poverty is increasingly concentrated in Africa
Lecture 1 – 8/2: What is development?
Introduction
Tentamen: 50% meerkeuze en 50% open vragen.
Todays topics:
• Course introduction
• What is development?
• How do we measure development?
• Are we making progress in development?
Course introduction
Goals in this course:
• Explain why some places are more developed than others
• Diagnose why development initiatives frequently fail
• Propose solutions that have proven evidence of success in boosting development
What is development?
What is development?
• Good change
• The pratice of development agencies > they only have a job because development is needed,
because many countries are still poor etc.
• The manner in which people are able to live and die
• Etc etc
Who are we developing?
• ‘’The third world’’
• ‘’Underdeveloped’’ > hierarchy
• ‘’Less-developed’’ > hierarchy
• ‘’Developing’’ > every country is developing
• ‘’Low and middle income’’
• ‘’The Global South’’
• ‘’Everyone’’
What are we developing?
• Economic development
• Political development
• Social development > health care, education etc
• Subjective development > personal well being, hapiness etc
How do we combine these multiple dimensions? Development is multidimensional.
Modernization theory
There is a lineair transition from the same traditional start to the same modern end:
• Increasing GDP per capita
• Increasing urbanization
, • Increasing education
• Etc
These things go together. Its about complementarities. When you get democracy, you get more
wealth.
Subjective development
What people see as development differs from where theyre from. Development can be political or
about having sheeps for example. Its different per country.
Article Sen (1992) development as freedom
He focuses on freedom and not on income. What matters is not the income but what you can do
with it. And you can’t buy everything. Needs vary: resources are converted into capabilities. The
value of having options is important, not what you end up doing. Its about positive freedom, not
about interference. Its about freedom to. Do you have the freedom/capability to become a teacher?
Freedoms let people choose what they value.
Freedom to do what?
• Participate in politics
• Engage in economic transactions
• Social opportunities through education and health care
• Transparency during interactions
• Security of life
What limits freedom?
• Slavery, violence
• Poverty
• Poor public services
• State restrictions on activities
• Lack of opportunities
Freedom, not income:
• Not all ends can be bought
• Needs vary: resources are converted (omgezet) into capabilities
• The value of having options, not what you end up doing > capabilities matter, not
functionings
Freedom/capabilities as positive freedom:
• Are you able to achieve your goal?
• Not: is anyone interfering to stop you achieve your goal? (negative freedom)
Why freedom?
• Intrinsic reason: freedom matters in itself, for everyone
• Instrumental reason: freedoms promote other freedoms
For example democracy prevents famine but also matters for political freedom in itself.
Development is about complementarities, not trade-offs (this is the modernization theory). But
freedoms let people choose what they value (this is subjective development).
We can decide what freedom we find important ourselves. So the focus is on different concepts.
For measurement/policy we still need to specify which freedoms matter. How do we choose? For
Sen, this is what demcracy is for. But how do we know what citizens from autocratic countries find
,important? Its not just a philosophical question. Politics is conflict between people who value
different dimensions of development. People from the city want other things than people from the
countryside. It also depends on age/generation. What development is, is a political question.
Sustainable development
Sustainabe development = development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising/hurting the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Think of climate change. Conflict between freedoms of people today, using natural resouces to have
maximal economic freedom, and freedom of people in the future, having the same opportunities.
Are continued economic growth and environmental sustainability compatible?
• The ‘’development’’ route to sustainability
− Rapid technological innovation will help solve us problems like climate change.
− Wealth and education reduce fertility, reducing environmental pressures.
− The Kuznets curve: if you’re poor, environment worsens and if you’re richer,
environment will be better.
• The ‘’sustainability’’ route to development
− Tackling environmental challenges will stimulate new innovations and investments
− Conserving assets improves their productivity
− Avoiding climate stresses prevents conflict and boosts yields (uitkomsten/winsten)
Post-development critiques
1) The discourse of development makes people think of themselves as underdeveloped.
Development agencies say ‘’youre poor we want to help you.’’ This way, people start thinking
theyre poor.
2) Development is an imposition of power and hierarchy
− A weapon of the cold war and post-colonialism > control
− Development as ‘’planned poverty’’
− ‘’A top down, ethnocentric and technocratic approach’’
− Westernization and eradicating diversity
3) Development has failed on its own terms
− Rising inequality
− There is still a lot of poverty etc in the world.
But in general there also has been a reasonable amount of success.
4) Development is an industry
− Governments, NGOs, Foundations etc
− Reliant on the continuation of poverty > only a job if there’s poverty.
− Lobbying governments for new contracts
− Governments seeking markets for their companies
How do we measure development?
Challenges of measuring development:
• Multi-dimensional, frequent
• Lack of data collection capacity in countries that matter most
• Representative data on the most vulnerable is challenging > the poorer people live in the
rural areas, not in the capital city. Its hard to get access to those people.
• Hard to attribute progress to specific policies when many things change at the same time
Human Development Index (HDI)
Life expectancy, years of schooling, GNI per capita. There is no political dimension > UN has to be
diplomatic.
, Measuring HDI before 2010: the income could compensate for poor health. This didn’t represent
human development. So the methodology changed after 2010. More income cant directly
compensate for poor health.
Multidimensional Poverty Index
It measures at the individual level.
Are the people who lack income also the people who lack healthcare?
This is a % of people who are poor in at least a third of the indicators.
It varies per country. Ethiopia and Leshoto: same HDI, but different MPI. In Leshoto its seperated. If
you don’t have education, you might have health care. In Ethiopia, the people who lack health care,
are also the people who lack edudcation and income. Experience of poverty is more intense.
Sustainability
The HDI and MPI:
• Reward resource use
• Ignore consequences for future generations
Ecological footprint:
• How much biologically productive area (land/water) it takes to provide for all the competing
demands of people
• How much resources on average is every person using?
• 1,75 earths would be required to support current activities
We can compare the HDI to ecological footprint. Green box in the figure is what we want: high HDI
and low ecological footprint. But there are no countries in that box. Lots of countries have a low
ecological footprint but a low HDI.
Are we making progress in development?
2030: poverty will be an African phenomenon. Some African countries are poorer now than they
were 55 years ago. Poverty is increasing because of Covid. There are also reductions in HDI.
Conclusion
• What is development?
− Contested: development as competing interests over many possible freedoms
− Including freedoms of future generations: sustainability
− Development actors are not neutral
• How do we measure development?
− Many imperfect measures: all are simplifications and value judgements
• Are we making progress in development?
− Quickly, but very unevenly and with recent reversals due to Covid
− Poverty is increasingly concentrated in Africa
