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The Measurement of Comparative Development — a Survey and Critique

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

David K. Whynes
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Extract

This article represents an attempt to bring together and survey the diverse techniques devised by individual scholars and institutions for the purpose of measuring comparative economic development. Any merits it therefore possesses must rest in its clarifications rather than in its inspirations. However, so many techniques exist, founded upon so many theoretical bases, that a concise overview would appear to be justified.

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Articles
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , March 1974 , pp. 89 - 107
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1974

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References

Page 89 note 1 Kindleberger, C. P., Economic Development (New York, 1965 edn.), p. 3.Google Scholar

Page 89 note 2 Seers, Dudley, ‘What are we trying to Measure?’, in The Journal of Development Studies (London), VIII, 3, 1972, p. 21.Google Scholar

Page 91 note 1 Prest, A. R. and Stewart, I. G., National Income of Nigeria, 1950–1954 (London, 1953),Google Scholar and Peacock, A. T. and Dosser, D., National Income of Tanganyika, 1952–54 (London, 1958).Google Scholar

Page 91 note 2 Prest and Stewart, op. cit. p. 4.

Page 92 note 1 It is interesting to note that the inclusion of this aspect of economic activity would make a tremendous difference to D.C. income levels. Prest and Stewart estimate that the inclusion of housewives' services, of a similar nature to those included at present in L.D.C. income data, would add £1,000 million to the U.K. national income.

Page 92 note 2 Social anthropologists would argue that the technique implies a complete misunderstanding of the rôle of the ‘bride-price’ in traditional societies. However, the national accountant feels obliged to use any data that is available, in order to improve the accuracy of his studies.

Page 92 note 3 Peacock and Dosser, op. cit. p. 20.

Page 93 note 1 See Okigbo, Pius, ‘Nigerian National Accounts, 1950–57’, in Samuels, L. H. (ed), African Studies in Income and Wealth (London, 1963), pp. 286–306.Google Scholar

Page 93 note 2 See, particularly, Gilbert, M. and Kravis, I., International Comparison of National Products and the Purchasing Power of Currencies (Paris, 1954),Google Scholar and Gilbert, M.et al., Comparative National Products and Price Levels (Paris, 1958).Google Scholar

Page 93 note 3 Clark, Cohn, Conditions of Economic Progress (London, 1951 edn.), p. 19.Google Scholar

Page 94 note 1 Quoted by Kindleberger, op. cit. p. 9.

Page 94 note 2 Apart from figures for infant mortality, doctors, school attendance, livestock, climate, and energy used both by the railways and by manufacturing industry, there are consumption data on the following: calorie intake, non-grain calorie intake, tobacco, lumber, cement, textiles, mail, cinemas, rail freight, motor vehicles, telephones, and energy for households. See Bennett, M. K., ‘International Disparities of Consumption Levels’, in The American Economic Review (Providence, R.I.), XLI, 09 1951, pp. 632–49.Google Scholar

Page 95 note 1 See Beckerman, W., International Comparison of Real Incomes (Paris, 1966),Google Scholar and Beckerman, W. and Bacon, R., ‘International Comparisons of Income Levels: a suggested new measure’, in The Economic Journal (London), LXXVI, 09 1966, pp. 519–36.Google Scholar

Page 95 note 2 Usher, D., The Price Mechanism and the Meaning of National Income Statistics (Oxford, 1968), p. 125.Google Scholar

Page 96 note 1 Duggar, J. W., ‘International Comparisons of Income Levels’, in The Economic Journal, LXXIX, 03 1969, pp. 109–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Page 96 note 2 Gleason, A. H., ‘The Social Adequacy Method of International Levels of Living Comparisons’, in The Journal of Economic Behacior (Tokyo), I, 1, 04 1961, pp. 3–20.Google Scholar

Page 97 note 1 Clark, Colin and Haswell, M. R., The Economics of Subsistence Agriculture (London, 1964).Google Scholar

Page 98 note 1 Leys, Colin, ‘Political Perspectives’, in Seers, Dudley and Joy, Leonard (eds.), Development in a Divided World (London, 1971), p. 107.Google Scholar

Page 98 note 2 Youngson, A. J., The Possibilities of Economic Progress (Cambridge, 1959), p. 8.Google Scholar

Page 99 note 1 Jenkins, Robin, Exploitation: the world power structure and inequality of nations (London, 1970), p. 32.Google Scholar

Page 99 note 2 The Gini index measures inequality: by dividing population and income into percentiles, it shows what proportion of the latter is received by what proportion of the former.

Page 100 note 1 Cipolla, C. M., The Economic History of World Population (London, 1965 edn.).Google Scholar

Page 100 note 2 Hauser, P., ‘Demographic Indicators of Economic Development’, in Economic Development and Cultural Change (Chicago), VII, 3, Pt. II, 1959, pp. 98–116.Google Scholar For extensions on this theme, see also H. P. Minsky, ‘Indicators of the Development Status of an Economy’, ibid. pp. 151–72.

Page 101 note 1 The major contributions of Rostow, W. W. are to be found in The Stages of Economic Growth (Cambridge, 1960),Google Scholar and Politics and the Stages of Growth (Cambridge, 1971).Google Scholar

Page 101 note 2 Jenkins, op. cit. p. 74.

Page 101 note 3 Karl Marx's conceptualisations of development occur throughout his published works, and it is impossible to isolate a single source that succinctly summarises his theories – never. theless, The Communist Manifesto (1848) and Capital (1867) are essential starting points.

Page 102 note 1 From the draft programme of the Communist Party, adopted by the 22nd Party Congress in 1961 – reprinted in Shaffer, H. G. (ed.), The Soviet Economy (London, 1964), p. 82.Google Scholar

Page 102 note 2 Starovskii, V. N., ‘On the Methodology of Comparing Economic Indices of the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A.’, in Problems of Economics (White Plains, N.Y.), 07 1960, p. 14.Google Scholar

Page 103 note 1 Lau, L. J., ‘Economic Development and Industrialisation’, in Wu, Yuan-li (ed.), China – a Handbook (London, 1973), pp. 533–4.Google Scholar

Page 103 note 2 Quoted by King C. Chen, ibid. p. 371.

Page 104 note 1 Adelman, I. and Morris, C. T., Society, Politics, and Economic Development (Baltimore, 1967).Google Scholar

Page 105 note 1 Davenport, M., ‘Allocation of Foreign Aid’, in The Yorkshire Bulletin of Economic Research (York), XXII, 1, 1970, pp. 26–42.Google Scholar

Page 106 note 1 Patel, S. J., ‘Economic Distance Between Nations: its origins, measurement, and outlook’, in The Economic Journal, LXXIV, 03 1964, pp. 125–6.Google Scholar

Page 106 note 2 Douglas Rimmer largely agrees with my conclusions as to the merits of measurements of development, but not with my policy implications; Macromancy (London, 1973),Google Scholar Hobart Paper No. 55.

Page 107 note 1 Nyerere, J. K., Tanzania, Ten Years after Independence (Dar es Salaam, 1971), p. 68.Google Scholar