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id21
classic highlights The focus on
national income as a target for achieving poverty reduction avoided
the real problems of development, argued Professor Sir Dudley Seers,
in 1967. He attempted to redefine how development was measured and offers
policy lessons which are particularly foretelling for today in light
of the Millennium Development Goals. The seminal discussion
paper - 'The Meaning of Development' begins by discussing the challenges
of providing aid by looking at what practitioners actually meant by
the term 'development'. Seers argues that there is no real 'development'
when the benefits of technology and progress helped only a small number
of people in the developed world, who are already relatively rich. The paper focuses
on the practice of using national income as a basis for measuring development
progress. National income data uses crude methods of estimation, particularly
when measuring the production of crops and other agriculture products.
In particular, little is known about the investment in capital and machines
in rural areas, or about the domestic or personal services industries
in developing countries. Researchers are often insufficiently critical
of national income estimations. And development workers use information
that does not show a realistic picture of the causes or problems of
poverty. Seers argues that
other measurements should be found for development. If governments become
more interested in social measurements then statistics offices would
produce more appropriate information. The Indian National Household
Survey of 1962 had already tried to do this. Seers offers a number
of other measurements that could be used instead of national income:
It could take decades
before 'development' could eliminate poverty. The role of politicians,
aid workers and civil servants is to find policies that have worked
for the many different situations in the developing world. The aim is
to change attitudes, so that it is impossible for policymakers and researchers
to ignore or worsen inequalities between rich and poor people. The author suggests
that these policymakers should:
Original work
by: Further information Sources July 2006 See also From Colonial Economics to Development Studies (PDF) by Dudley Seers IDS Bulletin 1.1, 1968 What
do you think of this article? How have these ideas influenced your work?
Email id21classics@ids.ac.uk
with your comments
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