Development and the Gab of Inequalities

*“Developing countries in Africa have been more concerned with bridging the

gaps of inequality with the developed countries, whiles the developed

countries have been more concerned with increasing the gaps of inequality

with the developing countries.”*

Development is a term which came into vogue after World War II when

development economists attempted to design appropriate development models

for developing countries to catch up with the developed world. The word

development is however very difficult to define. Over the years, there has

been long debate over the exact definition of the concept development.

Different scholars have viewed development from different perspectives.

Some of these perspectives have been examined below with analysis based

Michael P. Todaro and Stephen C. Smith book on Economic Development, ninth

edition.

According to the Traditional Economic Perspectives, in strictly economic

terms development has traditionally meant the capacity of a national

economy, where initial economic condition has been more or less static for

a long time, to generate and sustain an annual increase in its Gross

National Income (GNI). A common alternative economic index of development

has been the use of rates of growth of income per capita. Development

strategies have therefore usually focused on rapid industrialization, often

at the expense of agriculture.

Dudley Seers used poverty, unemployment and inequality as indicators for

measuring development instead of economic indicators. Dudley Seers posed

the basic question about the meaning of development succinctly when he

asserted, “the questions to ask about a country’s development are

therefore: What has been happening to poverty? What has been happening to

unemployment? What has been happening to inequality? If all three of these

have declined from high levels, then beyond doubt this has been the period

of development for the country. If one or two of these problems have been

growing worse especially if all three have, it would be strange to call the

result ‘development’ even if per capita income doubled”(Seers, 1969:3 cited

in Conyers and Hills, 1984: 29-30). Development must therefore be conceived

of as a multidimensional process involving major changes in social

structures, popular attitudes and national institution as well as the

acceleration of economic growth, the reduction of inequality and

eradication of poverty.

Amertya Sen’s “Capabilities” Approach, Sen argues that the “capability to

function” is what really matters as a poor or nonpoor person. As Sen put it

“Economic growth cannot be sensibly treated as an end in itself.

Development has to be more concerned with enhancing the lives we lead and

the freedom we enjoy. Functioning that is what a person does (can do) with

the commodities of a given characteristics that they come to possess or

control. The concept of functioning reflects the various things a person

may value doing or being. Sen define capabilities, as “the freedom that a

person has in terms of the choice of functioning, given his personal

features and his command over commodities”.

UNDP’s Multidimensional Measurement, since 1990 the UNDP has primarily

focused on human development in its Human Development Index (HDI) as

measured by three major indicators. These are Health, Education and Income.

In Micheal P. Tadoro and Stephen C. Smith book, Economic Development, they

highlighted three core values of development which serve as conceptual

ground and indicators for comprehending the concept of development. Firstly

Sustenance: the ability to meet basic needs. All people have certain basic

needs without which life would be impossible. Secondly Self Esteem: To be a

person. A sense of worth and self respect, of not being used as a tool by

the others for their own needs due to the significance attached to material

values in developed nations, worthiness and esteem are nowadays

increasingly conferred only on countries that possess economic wealth and

technological power. Thirdly, freedom from servitude: To be able to choose.

Freedom here is to be understood in the sense of emancipation from

alienating material conditions of life and from servitude to nature,

ignorance, other people, misery, institutions and dogmatic beliefs,

especially that poverty is predestination. The three objectives of

development therefore are, To increase the availability and widen the

distribution of basic life-sustaining goods such as food, shelter, health

and protection, To raise levels of living, including, in addition to higher

incomes, the provision of more jobs, better education and greater attention

to culture and human values which will help generate greater individual and

national self-esteem and To expand the range of economic and social choices

available to individuals and nations by freeing them from servitude and

dependence.

The final perspectives worthy of mentioning is the Post-Modernism Idea of

Development, they argue that the concept of development is not practical

and just a body of ideas and theories used by the Western world to dominant

the third world countries. They entreat Third World countries to craft

their own conceptual understanding of development that best address their

needs.

Africa In Perspective

For the purpose of digesting the issue of developing countries in Africa

having been more concerned with bridging the gaps of inequality with the

developed countries with the developed countries, while the developed

countries have been more concerned with increasing the gaps of inequality

with the developing countries, I have decided to craft my understanding for

development which is development been a multidimensional process which

involve using the means of development (i.e. Natural resources,

Institutions and Human actors) to address the goals of development (i.e.

either to reduce or to create socio-economic and political inequality of

well-being within or across societies) in addition to the cultural and

political requirement for effecting rapid structural and institutional

transformations of entire societies in a manner that will most efficiently

bring the fruits of economic progress to the broadest segments of their

populations.

According to the Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s ENGLISH DICTIONARY,

Inequality is the difference in social status, wealth, or opportunity

between people or groups. Situating the meaning of inequality into the

context of the issue under discussion, inequality can be explain as the

difference in social, economic, political advancement and infrastructure

coupled with institutional progress among countries.

Developing countries are deemed to have low level of per capita income, low

industrialization, low literacy rate, poor living standard and weak

institutions coupled with inadequate technological infrastructure.

Developing countries have been bedeviled with Weak institutions, Dependence

on and vulnerability to foreign exploitation, High illiteracy rate, High

levels of unemployment, Prevalence of endemic diseases, Limited

technological capacity, High infant mortality rate, Malnutrition, Poor

sanitation, Unequal distribution of income etc.

Examination of the characteristics of developing countries will better

explain the reason why developing countries in Africa have been more

concern with the bridging the gaps of inequality with the developed

countries. A point worth noting is that the developed countries have

already passed through this stage and characteristics that the developing

countries are currently in. In examining the characteristics of developing

countries, reference is made to Michael P. Todaro and Stephen C. Smith book

on Economic Development, chapter two.

The first point worth mentioning is low levels of living, characterized by

low incomes, inequality, poor health and inadequate education. In

developing countries, the levels of living tend to be very low for the vast

majority of people. These low levels of living are manifested

quantitatively and qualitatively in the form of low life and work

expectancies, high infant mortality rate and in many cases a general sense

of malaise and hopelessness.

Secondly, dependence and vulnerability in international relations, for many

developing countries a significant factor contributing to the persistence

of low levels of living, rising unemployment, and growing income inequality

is the highly unequal distribution of economic and political power between

rich and poor nations. These unequal strength are manifested not only in

the dominant power of rich nation to control the pattern of international

trade and agreements regulating it but also in their ability often to

dictate the terms whereby technology, foreign aid, and private capital are

transferred to developing countries.

Furthermore, substantial dependence on agricultural production and

primary-product exports, the vast majority of people in developing nations

live and work in the rural areas. The basic reason for the concentration of

people and production in agricultural and other primary production

activities in developing countries is the simple fact that at low income

levels, the first priorities of any person are food, clothing and shelter.

Agricultural productivity is low not only because of the large numbers of

people in relation to available land but also because developing countries

agriculture is often characterized by primitive technologies, poor

organization and limited physical and human inputs. Technological

backwardness persists because developing country agriculture is

predominantly noncommercial peasant farming.

The final characteristic of developing countries to be digested is the

prevalence of imperfect market and limited information. It is worth noting

that the presumed benefits of market economics and market- friendly

policies depend heavily on the existence of institutional, cultural and

legal prerequisites that most of us in industrial societies take for

granted. In many developing countries, these legal and institutional

frameworks are either absent or extremely weak. These situations do not

allow for the enforcement of contracts and validation of property rights, a

stable and trustworthy currency, an infrastructure of roads and utilities

that result in low cost of transport and communication. Moreover,

information is limited and costly to obtain, thereby often causing goods,

finances, and resources to be misallocated.

Examining the characteristics of the developing countries is clearly

obvious that developing nations needed to bridge this vast gap of

inequality comparing with the developed countries. Any development policies

must be geared towards mitigating this extreme level socio-economic and

political couple with institutional inequalities. Educational

infrastructures, economical stability, political independence and strong

institutional framework are the key areas that the developing countries

must endeavor to bridge the gap that have been created internally by poor

institutional framework and externally by the developed countries. Since

developing countries are in a gradual process of developing, these

inequalities must necessarily be bridge for them to achieve their

development targets of economic stability, technological infrastructure,

political independent and strong institutional framework.

Now a cursory look at the developed countries and how they are more

concerned with creating inequalities with the developing countries,

according to Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations, “A

developed country is one that allows its citizens to enjoy a free and

healthy life in a safe environment.” Developed countries are mostly

characterized by high level of industrialization, high literacy rate, and

lower level of unemployment, better sanitation, accessible medical

services, democratic government, a stable currency and well functioning

institutions.

In my candid opinion, the developed nations have over the decades thrown

out policies and program that have created inequalities with developing

countries. It must be noted that the developed countries have internally

bridge the gap of inequalities by establishing strong institution, stable

economic, adequate educational and medical infrastructures coupled with

advanced technological development.

Free trade policy of developed countries with developing nation has created

inequalities that sector. The developed countries benefit from this policy

by their firms dapping cheap and inferior product onto the market of

developing countries which adversely affect the developing countries infant

industries by indirectly collapsing them because consumers preference for

cheap goods.

Controlling of trade and prizes of goods and services by the developed

countries have not benefited the developing countries in foreign trades but

rather increase inequalities of imperfect market and vulnerability of the

economics of the developing countries.

In addition to that, even the financial assistances extended to the

developing countries by the developed countries are mostly attached with

strings and harsh conditions which are detrimental to the quest of

developing countries to bridge the gaps of inequalities with the developed

countries but beneficial to the effort of developed countries to create

inequalities. An illustrative example in that regard is when financial

support is given to the developing countries to bridge their

infrastructures deficits but with the conditions that all material

resources and the construction firm to do the project must necessarily come

from the developed country offering the support. This kind of support will

rather boost the economy of the developed countries because the financial

support they offer will return in their economy coupled with the export

gains and the interest that the developing countries will pay on the

financial support.

In conclusion, is worth stating that development is an ending process of

historical change because of durable inequalities and also the developed

countries are already developed and therefore their quest to better their

lot will amount to the creation of inequalities with the developing

countries. From the angle of the characteristics of developing countries

(poor health system, malnutrition, high literacy rate, high infant

mortality rates, weak institutions, poor technological infrastructures etc)

relative to that of developed countries, developing measure necessarily put

in concrete measures to bridge these gaps of socioeconomic and political

inequalities with the developed countries. On the developed countries more

concerned with creating inequalities with developing countries, is clearly

obvious that the developed countries are already developed and they want to

better their lot therefore policies( free trade and economic partnership

agreement, financial support with harsh conditions and strings attached)

pretending to be in the interest of developing countries are thrown to the

developing countries which in the long run tend to benefit the developed

countries and the inequalities gaps continue to persist.\

By: Edem Raymnond Nuworkpor

Generational Thinkers Ghana