Structural Adjustment and Performance in Living Standards in Developing Countries

Kakwani, Nanak

doi:10.1111/j.1467-7660.1995.tb00562.x

Cited by 25 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 17 publications

(7 reference statements)

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“…The latter captures much better than the above simple equation the underlying nonlinear tradeoffs between 'energy consumption and/or environmental strain' and 'life quality' (Goldstein, 1985). Goldstein's empirically developed idea that basic human needs indicators -like life expectancy -are a non-linear function of development levels has been so widely received in the social science literature that is has become a real international standard nowadays (see Afxentiou, 1990aAfxentiou, , 1990bAnand and Ravillion, 1993;Anson, 1988Anson, , 1991Cheng, 1989;Dixon, 1987;Dixon andMoon, 1986, 1989;Fosu, 2009Fosu, , 2010aFosu, , 2010bFosu, , 2010cKakwani, 1993Kakwani, , 1995Khan, 1991;King, 1998;Knight and Rosa, 2011;Mazumdar, 1996Mazumdar, , 2000Moon and Dixon, 1992;Newman and Thomson, 1989;Rudra, 2009;Tausch and Prager, 1993). The neglect of such a basic non-linear function (whatever its concrete mathematical formulation 12 ) is a major shortcoming of the currently used Happy Planet Index calculation.…”

Section: Methods and Measurementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Migration, Openness and the Global Preconditions of ‘Smart Development

Tausch

Heshmati

2012

boun

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. www.econstor.eu In this article, we present a first empirical reflection on 'smart development', its measurement, possible 'drivers' and 'bottlenecks'. We first provide cross-national data on how much ecological footprint is used in the nations of the world system to 'deliver' a given amount of democracy, economic growth, gender equality, human development, research and development, and social cohesion. To this end, we first developed UNDP-type performance indicators on these six main dimensions of development and on their combined performance. We then show the non-linear regression trade-offs between ecological footprints per capita on these six dimensions of development and their combined performance index. The residuals from these regressions are our new measures of smart development: a country experiences smart development, if it achieves a maximum of development with a minimum of ecological footprint. We then look at the cross-national drivers and bottlenecks of this 'smart development' and compare their predictive power using stepwise regression procedures. Apart from important variables and indicators, derived from sociological dependency and world systems theories, we also test the predictive power of several other predictors as well. Our estimates underline the enormous importance of the transfer of resources from the center to the periphery, brought about by migration, with huge statistical observed positive effects of received worker remittances on smart human development, Happy Life Years, smart gender justice, smart R&D, and both formulations of the smart development index. Terms of use: Documents in D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E SJEL Classification: C43, F22, F24, Q56

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Section: Methods and Measurementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Migration, Openness and the Global Preconditions of ‘Smart Development

Tausch

Heshmati

2012

boun

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“…Amongst them the so-called with versus without method has been employed frequently (see Khan, 1990;Mosley et al, 1991;World Bank, 1992;Kakwani, 1995). In this approach we compare what has happened with the programme with what we assume would have happened without it.…”

Section: Evaluation Methodologymentioning

confidence: 98%

“…To address this problem we decided to apply the analysis to two time periods: (1979±85) and (1986±92) which we refer to as pre-SAL and SAL periods respectively. These periods were selected on the grounds that most SAL agreements dated back to the early 1980s and the expectation that SALs, as indicated by the World Bank and a number of researchers, would need a few years for their eects to take place and in¯uence living standards (World Bank, 1992;Kakwani, 1995). The addition of time dimension makes the assessment more interesting and meaningful.…”

Section: Evaluation Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, they may be assessed, perhaps partially, in terms of their eects on the average standards of living, and to some extent, regardless of their distributional aspects. This approach has been adopted by a number of studies (World Bank, 1992;Stewart, 1995;Kakwani, 1995) which compare the adjusting countries with the non-adjusting ones using a set of social indicators. In general there is little disagreement on the role of economic growth in increasing incomes; however, there are some concerns on whether economic growth would necessarily lead to improvements in the standards of living (Dreze and Sen, 1989).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Standards of living, human development indices and structural adjustments in developing countries: an empirical investigation

Noorbakhsh

1998

J. Int. Dev.

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This paper attempts to examine whether the structural adjustment programmes of the World Bank have improved the standards of living and human development indices in the treated countries. It appears that while during the adjustment period the average real per capita income has grown faster in these countries this has not been the pattern for the indicators of standards of living. Although there exists a relationship between the human development indices and income for countries considered, the income elasticity of the non-income components of the human development indices examined here are very low for the countries which have bene®ted for a longer period from the structural adjustment loans and similarly for the non-treated countries. It seems that the physical standards of living examined here, though depending on per capita income, were relatively more in¯uenced by other factors. In conclusion the validity of a high concentration of adjustment programmes on income growth as the main target is questioned. #

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“…Goldstein's empirically developed idea that basic human needs indicators -like life expectancy -are a non-linear function of development levels has been so widely received in the social science literature that is has become a real international standard nowadays (see Afxentiou, 1990aAfxentiou, , 1990bAnand and Ravillion, 1993;Anson, 1988Anson, , 1991Cheng, 1989;Dixon, 1987;Dixon andMoon, 1986, 1989;Fosu, 2009Fosu, , 2010aFosu, , 2010bFosu, , 2010cKakwani, 1993Kakwani, , 1995Khan, 1991;King, 1998;Knight and Rosa, 2011;Mazumdar, 1996Mazumdar, , 2000Moon and Dixon, 1992;Newman and Thomson, 1989;Rudra, 2009;Tausch and Prager, 1993). The neglect of such a basic nonlinear function (whatever its concrete mathematical formulation 11 ) is a major shortcoming of the currently used Happy Planet Index calculation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%