Counting What Counts: A Compass of Progress for People and Planet - a new report shared by Kul Gautum
https://www.un.org/en/beyondGDP
https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/executive_summary_-_report_of_high-level_expert_group_on_beyond_gdp.pdf
Kul Chandra Gautam
www.kulgautam.org
twitter.com/kulcgautam
kulgautam@hotmail.com
https://amazon.com/author/kulgautam
ReplyDeleteThe UN’s “Beyond GDP” initiative starts from a reasonable observation: GDP does not measure everything. True enough. No serious economist has ever claimed otherwise. But the initiative quickly drifts into something far more ideological: an attempt to downgrade economic growth itself as the central driver of human progress.
That is where the argument becomes weak.
Across decades of global data, higher GDP per capita correlates strongly with longer lives, lower infant mortality, better education, cleaner water, stronger institutions, greater personal freedom, and higher self-reported life satisfaction. Poor countries do not typically solve environmental problems, inequality, or social exclusion before they become wealthier. They solve them because they become wealthier.
The uncomfortable reality is that most environmental protection, welfare systems, labour rights, gender equality, and social inclusion are luxuries financed by productive economies. Rich societies can afford clean rivers, emissions controls, pensions, healthcare systems, and redistribution. Poor societies usually cannot.
That is why much of the “Beyond GDP” agenda feels detached from the priorities of ordinary people in poorer countries. Few villagers in rural Africa or South Asia are demanding post-growth frameworks, wellbeing dashboards, or new philosophical critiques of capitalism. Most want jobs, electricity, roads, industry, functioning markets, reliable healthcare, and rising incomes, in other words: development.
There is also something historically familiar about this debate. Scandinavian elites once romanticised Julius Nyerere’s “African socialism” in Tanzania while ordinary Tanzanians endured stagnation and dependency. Today, parts of the international development world risk repeating a similar mistake: intellectualising poverty instead of overcoming it.
GDP is not everything. But dismissing its central importance confuses the concerns of affluent academics with the aspirations of billions of poorer people who still seek what the developed world already has: prosperity.
The UN will not regain relevance by lecturing developing countries about moving beyond growth. It will regain relevance by helping them achieve it.
I am concerned about the emergence of yet another ambitious framework, complete with fresh goals, and yet another UN-administered league table. One wonders whether we learned anything from the SDG exercise. People in different countries have their own priorities, and those priorities shift constantly. Today it is the cost of healthcare; tomorrow it is the sustainability of pensions. Then comes a debate about too much or too little policing, and six months later an education crisis or an environmental disaster dominates the headlines.
ReplyDeleteWhether a particular concern happens to fit neatly into the metrics of the latest framework is, in practice, mainly of interest to statisticians. For most countries, the underlying solution to many of these problems remains the same: sustained economic growth, especially in developing countries. On that point, I agree with Thomas.
At a time when the UN system already appears overextended, confused, and at risk of drifting into irrelevance, the answer is not the creation of ever more frameworks and new progress-measuring initiatives. The renewed focus should be on its core function: resolving intergovernmental dispute and conflict.
Perhaps there is no reason for either great excitement or deep concern. I doubt this proposal will gain much traction before the UN system itself undergoes more fundamental reform.
I share the concern above very much. We have set global goals, MDGs and SDGs. The world as a whole did not achieve these. Countries - in most case - most likely did not take these seriously except to prepare reports. This is not to say that setting goals and trying toachieve them is not a worthy exercise. It is indeed. However, time is ripe to reflect critically and analytically on what we achieved, not achieved and why not. Are UN Agencies and development partners doing the right things right. Do they have the capacity to these. I think its worth systematically analysing this before moving forward with more goals. I could be wrong. I am looking at it from the vantage point of a humble citizen in a poor country and an onlooker of a regreesing world.
ReplyDeleteThose who find yet another UN report, another framework, and another set of global goals “fascinating” may wish to explain why the international system continues to produce so many declarations with so few results. For decades, the UN system has generated targets, indices, strategies, and league tables in endless succession. Some are partially achieved, many fade away, and most are replaced by a new set of goals with little reflection on why the previous ones failed.
ReplyDeleteWhere is the serious institutional self-criticism? Where is the honest evaluation of why so many goals fell so far short in large parts of the world? Before constructing more elaborate dashboards to measure “wellbeing” and “progress”, perhaps the development community should first examine why so many previous frameworks delivered so little measurable improvement for ordinary people.
Were poor people in Africa and elsewhere ever consulted about their priorities? They are not demanding post-growth theories of what is good for them. Anyone with experience from poor countries knows that most people want the same things as you and I want: stable jobs, functioning infrastructure, rising incomes, decent schools, reliable healthcare, and the chance to build a more prosperous future for their children. Too often, the development discussion is shaped by the intellectual fashions of affluent institutions and academic circles far removed from everyday African reality.
The UN will not regain relevance through another layer of goals and indicators. It requires root-and-branch institutional reform. At times, the organisation resembles an overgrown vineyard that produces ever more tangled branches, but few grapes and less than vintage wine. Serious pruning is overdue before winter truly sets in. The forecasts already point to a long, cold season ahead.