Response to Jahan

Selim Jahan introduces the idea that for far too long the paradigm of economic development has dominated the idea of human development. Jahan states that while income is critical it is not an end, and that human development is about expanding the richness of life, not the richness of the economy within which human beings live. What are some of the targetted issues that Jahan examples as requiring focus throughout the world? Elaborate further on Jahan’s definition of human development. What are the different measures incorporated into the Human Development Index that serve to capture the breadth and focus of each countries’ average achievement?

In a vast and diverse world, how can human development be universally promoted and understood? Jahan discusses how the focus of human development has been centered around economic gain. Human development, as defined by Jahan relies on the enhancement of human choice. In order for human choice to be enhanced, capabilities need to be enhanced and oppportunities to use those capabilites have to be improved. Thus, Jahan wants human development to be more focused on the well-being of the induvidual instead of money. For society to succeed there needs to be balance between both components of choice. Jahan wishes to place an emphasis on the informal sector is often left out of data because they are in non-regulated positions. The lack of such information is leaving out people who usually need the most support. The factors that he determines as gauges for induvidual well being are long life, knowledge, and a decent standard of living. The Human Development Index offers data that can better gague human development based on Jahan’s definition. The HDX offers data on average age, years of schooling, health, ect. By combining this data that Jahan considers to best represent human development, you can look at which coutries are acceling with human development and which countries are falling short.

Hans Rosling states that “we underestimate the tremendous social change that often precedes economic change” and proceeds to provide several examples. What were some of the examples Rosling presented where health appeared to be a precursor to wealth? What was Rosling’s warning regarding the dangers of using averages when describing development?

Like Jahan, Rosling is tring to point out the lack of connection between economic development and human development. When looking at the different countries and regions, Rosling was able to illustrate how health was a precurser to health. For example, South Korea started with higher health than Brazil and Uganda and was able to achieve better health and a better gdp at a much faster rate. Even when coutries were losing money, health could rise as a result of a pre-existing health standard. If the health standard is low, there is more of a challenege to grow because you have to train a lot of doctors, educate more people on being healthy, create facilities, etc. Using averages is dangerous because you end up leaving out extreme cases. When people are looking to provide aid, the use of average data will not give the most descriptive information. Many underrepresented people would be left out if only the average was used. Big data is allowing for preiviously forgotten communities to be reached by the outside world. As the world changes, so will the data. While many people are focused on the economic situations of communities to assume how the community will develop, both Jahan and Rosiling are trying to illustrate how the new data we have acess to provides a better more accurate description.