This project is maintained by aprotiva
Andrew Protiva
02-04-20
Specific data is essential. Broad data about developmental statistics are not satisfactory in order to create effective solutions. Rosling makes it very clear that country statistics do not determine what will make for effective development. The total development of a country can not effectivley be represented by data and statistics, each individual case must be carefully analyzed for optimal solutions. Jahan and Rosling have similar points on this. Rosling mentions that some factors, such as health, are precursors to other developments. It is more difficult to increase heath, and increasing health is more impactful in the areas that he observed. Even if the economy is doing worst than health levels, health may still be more important that developing the economy. Jahan says this in a different way, talking about opportunities and capabilities. The two variables, capabilities a country has and opportunities that a country has to use its capabilities, heavily rely on one another. Developing capabilities in a field may be more important, or developing opportunities in that same field may be more important. It all depends on the specific relationships of the target area.
Rosling expanded on the idea that every target area, target audience, and sepcific type development should be carefully selected. The most effective developmental solutions can only be created when all of the factors are taken into account. While Jahan made it clear that human development has many more aspects than simply statistical data, Rosling expanded by clearly stating that
The main points of the talk explained that human development is not measured by how well the economy is doing, or the average income, or even the level of poverty. Human development has many more aspects that need to be considered outside of national, international, and economic analysis. Two aspects of deveopment need to allign with one another. Jahan mentioned that the two variables, capabilities and opportunities to use capabilities, need to remain in equillibrium for maximum effectivness. A balance between the two is destroyed when one simply focuses on one aspect of development, like economic development. In a similar way, Rosling says that different human developmental factors are harder or easier to change, and they are all intertwined in different ways. Looking at his example of income and child mortality rates, it is easier to develop income opposed to developing less child mortality. It is more difficult to decrease child mortality, and thus the economy can not be fully realized in the first place. This relates to the balance of human development that is needed.
The Rosling TED talk was very informative about some different topics such as differentiating individual country’s developmental needs and the different factors that affect speed of development. Grouping less developed countries is dangerous to development because it does not account for it target’s status. Rosling gave the example that providing aid to Africa is totaly unviable because some parts of Africa are extremely poor, and some would be suatable for vacation. The average development does not depict the full story, and using those averages can lead to inneffective processes and results. As I mentioned earlier, he also talked about how variables can affect one another and some are more important than others. Health was an example of a developmental need that is fairly difficult to increase compared to GDP per capita. This can also lead to inneffective processes if looking at the wrong data. The most pressing developmental issue may not be the one that is scored the lowest, but the one that would take the most time to improve. At the end he also began talking about the modernization and distribution of data in order to actually utilize to more of its potential. This is sort of a meta-developmental point that would help with development, which means it would increase the interest and availability of the “supply” side of development. This does not directly correlate to any big developmental ideas, but would bring the field farther into the forefront in order to increase efforts.