Conceptions of Development

Subject: Development Theory and Experience - I

Lesson: Conceptions of Development
Name: Ms. Isha Gangwani
College/ Department: Ramanujan College, University of Delhi

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Conceptions of Development

Learning Objectives:
After reading this chapter, you will be able to understand:

Meaning and multidimensional scope of development

Limitation of GNP and GNP per capita as a measure of development

An overview of global economic growth and its relation with distribution of income
across countries

Mobility matrices as a tool to understand changing income distribution across

countries of the world

Existence of inequalities in income distribution within developing countries

The concept of human development, Human Development Index and its relation with
per capita income

Structural features of developing economies and the proximate causes leading to the
different circumstances in developed and developing economies

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Conceptions of Development

Table of Contents:
Chapter: Conceptions of Development
1. An Introduction to Development
2. Per Capita Income as a Measure of Development
3. Growth and Income Distribution A Historical Overview
3.1.

Mobility Matrix

4. Income Disparities in Developing Countries

5. Human Development A Capture of Multifaceted Development
5.1.

Concept of Human Development

5.2.

An Index of Human Development

5.3.

Per Capita Income and Human Development

6. Structural Features of Developing Economies

7. Differences between Developed and Underdeveloped Economies and the
Underlying Causes A Case Study
8. Conclusion
9. Sample Questions
10.

References

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Conceptions of Development

1. An Introduction to Development
Development is a crucial social task facing the economies of the world. While
economic growth is a macroeconomic concept dealing with increase in aggregate and
per capita incomes, development, on the other hand, is a much wider phenomenon.
It is a multifaceted task which takes into account the broad spectrum of
socioeconomic aspects of wellbeing.
As Paul Streeten puts it,
We should never lose sight of the ultimate purpose of the exercise, to treat men and
women as ends, to improve the human condition, to enlarge peoples choices . . . a
unity of interests would exist if there were rigid links between economic production
(as measured by income per head) and human development (reflected by human
indicators such as life expectancy or literacy, of achievements such as self respect,
not easily measured). But these two sets of indicators are not very closely related.
The concept of development covers the features of health, education and life
expectancy. The multidimensionality of development process is accompanied with
higher literacy rates, declining infant mortality rates, higher life expectancy, greater
access to health facilities etc.
For a long time, development performance of any economy has been assessed on
the basis of growth of GDP per capita. This may appear to be relevant to some
extent, as economic development can be linked with growth of per capita income.
However, the multitude of achievements under the development process -- access to
clean drinking water, access to health services, greater access to schools and
knowledge, access to sanitation are not captured by the yardstick of aggregate
income variables. As Debraj Ray highlights, It is perhaps universally accepted that
development is not just about income, although income has a great deal to do with
it.
In this context, it is important to note what Lucas definition of development says. It
incorporates an implicit belief that the universal features of better health and
education that work together with development, rather, in some way, naturally result
from the growth of per-capita incomes in the longer run. In other words, the

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Conceptions of Development
improvement in aggregate economic variables does, in some way, result in positive
socioeconomic outcomes.
However, a more popular and contrasting view is that the relation between income
and socioeconomic variables may not be automatic, and in fact may not exist at all.
For instance, according to Human Development Report 2013, Jordan, Bhutan and
Swaziland have gross national incomes (per capita) which are nearly the same, but
Jordan is ranked much higher on the basis of human development index.
Thus, in this perspective, per capita GNP is insufficient and not a good proxy for
measuring the extent of development or underdevelopment in an economy. This calls
for a range of variables (perhaps narrower in scope) that work well as correlates of
the multifaceted processes under development. A major limitation in this respect is
the lack of such variables that capture the complex nature of development process.
This brings us back to the point that development is fuelled by growth in per capita
incomes.
To start with, we evaluate the feasibility and reliability of per capita income as a
measure of development.

2. Per Capita Income as a measure of Development

Per capita income can be used as a measure to evaluate the degree of development
and underdevelopment in an economy. This essentially requires the conversion of
each countrys income into a common currency and then dividing by the population
of that country. This method is termed as the exchange rate method for conversion
of incomes into a common unit.
It is observed that the distribution of per capita income across countries is highly
skewed. According to the World Development Report (1996), the total world output
produced in 1993 was $ 24 trillion. Only 20 percent of this output was produced in
low-income and middle-income countries, comprising 85 percent of the worlds
population. Another striking observation is that per capita income of the worlds
richest country, Switzerland, is as high as 400 times that of the poorest country,
Tanzania.

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Conceptions of Development
In short, huge income disparities exist across countries. Moreover, to evaluate the
degree of inequality in its true sense, it is important to note that the measure of per
capita income by exchange rate method suffers from drawbacks. It is biased for the
following reasons:

Incomes are commonly underreported in developing countries in order to

avoid taxes.

Moreover, in low income countries, a large part of the income generated is

used for self consumption. This is particularly true for subsistence farmers.
Such incomes or output do not get reported in national accounts.

Exchange rate conversions apply correctly only to a limited set of traded

goods. Prices of non-traded goods are not correctly reflected in the exchange
rate. Although Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) estimates do help in reducing
disparities to some extent, but not all the way.

In measuring GNP, we use market prices of all goods and services which may
not always be appropriate as market may not always be competitive. Also,
the cost of market imperfections and externalities are also ignored. Because
of such factors, the true value of marginal social benefits and costs does not
get reflected in prices.
Nevertheless, using sophisticated measures of GDP and shadow pricing help
overcome these problems.

3. Growth

and

Income

Distribution

Historical

Overview
In 1960, average per capita income of the richest 5 percent nations of the world was
29 times that of the poorest 5 percent nations. It is notable that this disparate
distribution has remained broadly unchanged over the subsequent two and a half
decades uptil 1985.
Although the overall picture has remained largely constant, an important feature of
interest is the diverse growth experience of different nations that contributed to the
changing landscape. On one hand is the rapid growth experience by Japan, Thailand,
and the four Asian Tigers uptil 1990, and of course, not to forget the emerging
superpower, China experiencing phenomenal rise since the 1980s. On the other hand
are the declining economies of Latin America and sub-Saharan America. According to

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Conceptions of Development
a study, per capita income in Latin America fell by 11% during the 1980s and
continued to fall in 1990s (except Chile and Columbia).
In Africa, Nigeria and Tanzania substantially deteriorated, while Kenya and Uganda
remained more or less stagnant.
Such divergent experiences of the nations across the world can be explained by
indigenous and independent political, social and macroeconomic factors influencing
these nations.
Thus, we can conclude that: While the extent of disparities at the global level has
remained the same, individual nation experiences justify their own ups and downs.
In light of the divergent economies of the world, Debraj Ray makes a mention of the
doubling time phenomenon that can change the face of the world. Doubling time is
the number of years taken to double the per capita income of a country. It can be
calculated:
Doubling Time = 70 / Current Rate of Growth
Another study by Parente and Prescott (1993) for the same period acknowledged
similar patterns. The study gave two important results. First, a large proportion of
countries changed their position in terms of income by 1 percent or more per year,
relative to US. Second, the positive and negative income changes of different
countries over these years have been roughly symmetrical, thus keeping the overall
income distribution of the world unchanged.
These results respectively imply two things. One, relative economic progress can be
a common feature to countries at different levels of income without any trap. The
other is the possibility of better off economies to slip away and decline. As Debraj
Ray puts it, Economic Development is more like a treacherous road, than a divided
highway where only the privileged minority is destined to ever drive on the fast
lane.
Nevertheless, we cannot ignore the tendencies of low income countries to perpetually
remain trapped. And also the convergence hypotheses by which economies are
bound to converge to similar standards of living in the longer run.

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3.1 Mobility Matrix
It is important in this context to understand the forementioned phenomenon by the
illustrative method of 'mobility matrices' developed by Quah (1993).
Understanding Mobility Matrix

Mobility matrix is a tool used to display the income mobility of countries over
a period of time.

We take two points of time over which we want to study the change in income
distribution.

We take the per capita incomes of the countries as a fraction of the world's
per capita income, at both points of time. For example, if a country's per
capita income is $1000 and the world average is $4000, then it will give an
index of 1/4

In the following example, the different categories used are 1/4, 1/2, 1, 2 and
. The category 1/4 contains all countries having per capita income onefourth or lesser than the world average per capita income. The category 2
contains all countries between 1 and 2 index (i.e. countries earning p.c.i
which is between the world average and twice of it)

The diagram below illustrates a mobility matrix for the period 1962-84. The
first row and the first column mentions the categories used in the example.
The first row refers to the income distribution in the year 1962 and the
columns refer to the year 1984.

Any particular entry in a cell tells us the number of countries that have
transited from one category to another in their period from 1962-1984. For
example, 20% of the countries which were between half the average per
capita income and the average per capita income made a transition to fall
between half one-fourth and half the world average per capita income.

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Conceptions of Development
1/4

1/2

1/4

76

12

12

1/2

52

31

10

20

46

26

24

53

24

95

The Income Mobility of Countries, 1962-84

Source: Figure 2.5, Chapter 2, Debraj Ray,
Development Economics, 1998

Some notable observations:

Note that high numbers on the main diagonal imply larger number of
countries in any income category showing lesser income mobility.

Stickiness or lack of mobility is observed to be maximum among richest and

poorest countries, with numbers being as high as 76 and 95 at the extremes
of the main diagonal.

Income mobility is seen to be relatively higher among the middle income

countries. For example, a large number of countries in the category between
1/2 and 1 have either jumped to better or worse categories in the next period
(averagely high numbers can be seen around the centre of the mobility
matrix).

Another visible feature is that low and middle income countries (row 1/4 and
1/2) have a greater tendency to slip in the lower categories in the next
period, implying overall tendencies of average economies to move in the
downward direction.
Such patterns suggest the clichd belief that the low-income, underdeveloped
economies tend to remain stuck in the poverty trap. At the same time, a
rather contrasting view pointed out by Debraj Ray is that low-income
backward economies enjoy privileges that are instrumental in achieving rapid
growth. These are: new technologies from advanced economies, high
marginal productivity of capital because of abundance of labor, opportunity to
learn from the failures of other nations. Hence, by this view, disparities
should get eliminated in the longer run.

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Conceptions of Development

4. Income Disparities in Developing Countries

As we have already seen, global development is characterized by a highly skewed
distribution of income across nations. However, sadly, this is not the only problem
with the global development scenario. The astonishing income inequalities that exist
within the developing nations cannot be ignored. Pronounced prosperity is seen to be
coexisting with abject poverty in the cities of Mumbai, Mexico city, Manila and others
of the developing world. As Debraj Ray puts it, "the poor are twice cursed: once for
living in countries that are poor on average, and then for being on the receiving end
of the high levels of inequality in those countries."
What explains this heterogeneity is the fundamental nature of the development
process which brings with itself the unevenness and the imperfections associated
with it.
In underdeveloped economies, where income levels are extremely low, a significantly
large proportion of people are poor. Hence, there is not a vast gap between the
income shares of the poorest segment and the richest segment of the population.
As economic progress takes place, the richer sections of the society reap the benefits
first. Hence, the proportionate income shares of the topmost quintiles of the
population increases relative to the lowest quintiles, thus increasing the income gap
between the rich and the poor.
At even higher levels of income, the benefits of growth trickle down to the poor, thus
reducing the inequalities.
An example has been quoted by Debraj Ray to support the above mentioned
argument. It plots the income shares of the richest 20% and the poorest 40% of the
population of a set of fifty seven countries arranged in the order of increasing per
capita income. The results show that: (1) poorest 40% earn averagely 15 percent
lesser income, (2) There is an overall tendency for discrepancies to increase for
middle income countries vis-a-vis extremely low and extremely high income
countries. Thus, once again, income inequalities appear to be relatively higher
among middle income nations.

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Conceptions of Development

Income shares of poorest 40% and richest 20% for fifty-seven countries
arranged in order of increasing per capita income (PPP)
Source: Figure 2.6, Chapter 2, Debraj Ray, Development Economics, 1998

The fact that low levels of incomes in underdeveloped nations coincides with large
inequalities reflects the inaccessibility to the basic services of health and education.

5. Human Development A Capture of Multifaceted

Development
5.1 Concept of Human Development
Income distribution is highly unequal within and across countries of the world. Not
only this, the degree of disparate income distribution varies from country to country.
Given the heterogeneity of income distribution within and across countries and given
the multifaceted nature of development, it would be a highly lopsided approach to
excessively depend on GNP per capita as an indicator of development.

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Conceptions of Development
When evaluating the degree of development or underdevelopment, it is highly
important to comply with definition of development which incorporates advancing
human conditions, leading a long and healthy life, a decent living standard,
expansion of knowledge of individuals, social and economic empowerment of women,
expansion of human capabilities.
The achievement of these conditions would translate into higher literacy rates among
men and women, increased enrolments in schools and colleges, raised life
expectancy at birth, declining infant and child mortality, improved nutritional status
and so on.
It is not uncommon that a country's status by per capita income may sharply differ
from the performance of any of these basic indicators. For instance, women
empowerment is likely to lead to reduced infant mortality and better nutritional
status of children, but it may not be a perfect correlate with the income status.
An observed empirical example in this context would make things clearer. Refer to
the table below, which gives the statistics of per capita income distribution, and a
few indicators of human development for two countries, Srilanka and Gautemela.
Country

Per

Share

Share

Life

Infant

Access

Adult

Capita

of

of

Expectancy

Mortality

to safe

Literacy

Income

poorest

richest

(years)

Rate

water

Rate

(1993

40%

20%

(per

(% of

(%)

PPP)

(in %)

(in %)

1000)

pop.)

Srilanka

2990

22

39

72

18

60

89

Gautemala

3350

63

65

48

62

54

One can see that, Gautemala is a richer country than Srilanka in terms of per capita
income, but Srilanka does better in terms of all development indicators except
access to safe drinking water. Clearly, a visible factor that explains for this is the
highly unequal distribution of income in Gautemela. Other than this is the overall low
income level and ofcourse, the government policies in the area of health and
development.
In short, we can conclude that: while GNP per capita may indicate a happy picture,
human development indicators may display a different story altogether.

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Conceptions of Development
5.2 An Index of Human Development
In order to assess and rank countries on the basis of various socioeconomic
indicators, a formal and composite measure of human development is globally used.
This is known as the Human Development Index. It is a scientific method of
combining all important indicators of development. The HDI has three important
dimensions to it. First, the health dimension is reflected by life expectancy at birth.
Second, educational level is reflected in a composite measure which is a weighted
average of adult literacy rate (two-third weight) and a combination of enrollment
rates in primary, secondary and tertiary education (one-third weight). The third
component of HDI is the per capita income reflecting the overall standard of living.
The statistic is obtained by taking a simple average of the three indicators.
The index takes a value between zero and one, and it is often interpreted as 'fraction
of ultimate development' or a measure of 'ultimate bliss'. It is so because the index
may vary among poorer, and has a tendency to iron out differences across richer
countries. Hence, the index may be especially useful to identify countries which may
be relatively richer in terms of GDP, but ranked poorly in terms of socioeconomic
goals captured under human development.
For example, New Zealand, Switzerland, Japan and Canada are all high income
countries with human development index ranging between 0.91 and 0.92. Among
medium HDI countries, Botswana has high income compared to Brazil, while its HDI
is 0.63 and Brazils HDI is 0.73

5.3 Per Capita Income and Human Development

Although per capita income or its equal distribution does not automatically ensure
human development, we still cannot simply disregard GDP per capita as a proxy for
development. As Debraj Ray argues, rising income levels would indeed be followed
improved educational and health status of the nation. This brings us back to the
Lucas' definition of development discussed earlier in the chapter.
To test the degree of relevance of the same, Debraj Ray has done a very useful
study to evaluate the scope of the "explanatory power" of GDP per capita over other
basic indicators.

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Conceptions of Development
He has done a scatter plot between per capita income and three major components
of human development: life expectancy at birth, infant mortality rate and adult
literacy rate. Broadly, the result was a high degree of correlation in each of the three
cases implying that per capita income is a "powerful correlate of development."

Per capita income and life expectancy for developing countries

Source: Figure 2.7, Chapter 2, Debraj Ray, Development Economics, 1998

Per capita income and adult literacy rates for developing countries
Source: Figure 2.8, Chapter 2, Debraj Ray, Development Economics, 1998

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Conceptions of Development

Per capita income and infant mortality rates for developing countries
Source: Figure 2.9, Chapter 2, Debraj Ray, Development Economics, 1998

Whatever imperfections that exist may be explained by income inequalities, govt.

policies, cultural and social attitudes etc.
In fact, in another study by Das Gupta (1993), correlation between per capita
income and other indicators is observed to be even stronger, wherein he has used
rank orderings instead of actual level of these variables.
To conclude, we can neither discredit human development no nor per capita income
as indicators of overall advancement. Rather the approach should be more balanced
with a greater emphasis on per capita income which would eventually and
automatically spell out in the form of better socioeconomic conditions.

6. Structural Features of Developing Economies

i.

Demographic Characteristics

Underdeveloped countries experience very high birth rates and death rates. As
development takes place, death rates drop significantly, leading to rapid population
growth. High population growth leads to declining per capita incomes. A positive
bonus of this is the fruits of demographic dividend that developing economies enjoy.

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Conceptions of Development
However, these coexist with the problems of child labor and lower school enrolment
rates and literacy rates in poor countries.
ii.

Occupational and Production Structure

Most developing countries derive a significant proportion of their output from

agriculture and large proportion of labor force living in rural areas derives income
from agriculture and related activities.
An important feature is that agriculture in developing countries is characterized by
lower productivities because of excessive labor overburdening the land and capital
resources.
iii.

Rapid Rural-Urban Migration

The push factors of rural distress caused by massive poverty shift workers from
agriculture to the urban sector. The movement is reinforced by the pull factors
higher wages and displayed additional benefits in the organized urban sector. A large
section of population is employed the services sector, which is mostly the result of a
fallback due to lack of industrial jobs. The enormous services sector is indicative of
the large size of the informal economy that exists in these developing economies.
iv.

International Trade

Cross border trade is a significant part of global trade. Both rich and poor countries
engage in imports and exports of goods and services. In terms of trade, the
difference between developed and developing countries comes from the composition
of the trade. In terms of the composition of the trade basket, developing countries
are mostly exporters of primary goods like food grains, cash crops, raw materials.
They are also major exporters of textile garments and light manufactured items. On
the other hand, the exports of developed countries comprise of manufactured goods,
ranging from heavy capital goods to light consumer durables.

7. Differences between Developed and Underdeveloped

Economies and the Underlying Causes A Case Study
Patha Dasgupta in his book "Economics: A Very Short Introduction" compares the lives
of two children, Becky living in US and Desta in Ethiopia. The author uses a problemoriented approach to explain why some people are rich and some poor.
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Conceptions of Development
Becky, who lives in a suburban town in America, comes from a small family of four. Her
father works in a property law firm, and her mother, who was earlier in publishing, is
now a house wife and engages in voluntary work. Becky and her brother study in school
and Becky pursues her ambition to become a doctor.
The family lives in a two storey house, owns two cars, and goes for vacations and do
sometime engage in leisure activities. They have access to banking facilities, financial
assets, insurance and pension schemes.
On the other hand, Desta comes from a small village in Ethiopia. Her father is a farmer
growing staple crops on land awarded by the government. The harvest is mainly used
for subsistence consumption. Her mother, apart from doing household chores, brews
maize to supplement the family income. Desta has five siblings. The brothers assist the
father in agricultural activities and are identified as 'assets' of the family. The sisters
help the mother in performing household chores. Only her younger brother is sent to a
local school. The family lives in a grass roofed mud hut with no supply of electricity and
water. The family significantly depends on communal property resources for water, land
for grazing and woodlands.
There are no financial institutions in the village and the income is highly dependent on
the harvest which is supported by rains. They may participate in the community
insurance scheme and funds are borrowed within the kinsfolk. Because of low and
fluctuating incomes, the problems of hunger, malnourishment, and high infant mortality
are not uncommon.
So, both the families face vastly different situations, opportunities, obstacles
and futures. The opportunities for Desta and her family are far more limited as
compared to Becky.
What processes explain or lead to such outcomes? What can influence the
processes?
What are the proximate causes behind the differences between Becky's and
Desta's worlds?
Large income disparities have long existed for about two hundred years. The ratio of
average incomes in the US and Africa has increased 3 to 20 over the last two centuries.
While US income has grown 30 times in size, Ethiopia's income has not significantly

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changed. Such widening disparities are reflected in incomes at the micro levels (in
Becky's and Desta's family).
On the basis of GDP per capita, countries tend to cluster in two main groups - poor
nations (much like Desta's world), and rich nations (Becky's world). Between the two are
the thinly spread large cluster of middle income countries. Poor nations are more likely
to be caught up in trap and are mostly unable to shift themselves to the higher income
categories.
Richer countries are characterized by better equipment, greater accumulation of physical
capital, higher quality of human capital because of better education and health indices.
There is also greater access to safe drinking water and basic amenities. Gender
inequalities tend to be lower in high income countries. These countries invest highly in
research and development, newer ideas and innovation and are the first ones to achieve
advances in technology.
In poor nations, agricultural output contributes significantly to the GDP (25 percent or
more) while this proportion is less than 5 percent in rich countries. In poor countries,
more than 70 percent of the population resides in rural areas and rural economies
mainly derive production inputs from nature.
The human development index is higher in rich countries compared to poorer countries.
There is no single driving force that can cause countries to be rich or poor. Economic
growth may be triggered by certain forces pushing the economy into the 'virtuous cycle
of prosperity'. On the other hand is the 'vicious cycle of poverty' which traps the
backward nations.
The author relates the inherent circumstances to the macroeconomic history. Economies
tend to enjoy certain advantages compared to others due to favorable factors like
geographical location, natural land features, proximity to the coastline, species of
animals etc.
Countries may be rich and economically superior also because they harbor vast natural
resources. However, due to colonization, some countries have not been able to take
advantage of their vast resource base and have continued to remain poor.

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Conceptions of Development
Lastly, in some countries, the institutions are such that permit and promote good health,
education, skills, ideas and freedom to move in society. Such positive outcomes may
also be supported by social infrastructure in the economy.

8. Conclusion
Development is a multidimensional concept that covers the broad spectrum of
socioeconomic aspects of wellbeing and it goes beyond the concept of economic growth
and rising incomes. While GDP and per capita income have long been used as measures
of development, they suffer from their limitations.
In the last few decades, the different nations of the world have witnessed divergent
growth experiences at different times. However, still the overall picture remains the
same in terms of disparate distribution of income at the global level. Inequalities exist
not only at the global level but also within the countries. Income inequalities are
particularly higher in poor, developing nations. This is explained by the very nature of
development, which is an uneven process, benefitting the richest first.
Human Development is a concept designed to capture the multifaceted nature of
development. An appropriate measure for the same is Human Development Index,
which takes into account three crucial dimensions health, education and economic
wellbeing.
In general, developing economies of the world are characterized by some structural
features in common. Some of these are: demographic feature of high birth rate and
death rate and rapid population growth as death rates fall, occupational and production
structure dominated by primary sector and the basket of exports mainly comprising
agricultural output and raw materials, and rural distress and poverty leading to forceful
migration to urban areas.
Lastly, the vastly different situations and circumstances have been related with inherent
circumstances, geographical features, difference in endowments of natural resources,
social and political institutions, large income disparities etc.

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Conceptions of Development

9. Sample Questions
1. Explain the concept of development. What are the various indicators of
development?
2. Discuss the feasibility and reliability of GNP and GNP per capita as measures of
development. What are the problems associated?
3. Development is not just about income, although income has a great deal to do
with it. Explain the statement.
4. What is mobility matrix? Construct a mobility matrix with:
i.

zero income mobility

ii.

perfect income mobility

5. "The poor are twice cursed: once for living in countries that are poor on average,
and then for being on the receiving end of the high levels of inequality in those
countries." Elucidate.
6. What are some of the structural characteristics of developing countries?
7. Explain the concept of human development. What are the aspects that are
captured under Human Development Index?
8. Critically examine the historical experience of developing countries with reference
to the features of underdevelopment.
9. What

are

the

proximate

causes

of

vast

differences

in

the

situations,

opportunities, obstacles and futures of Beckys and Destas worlds?

10.

References
Debraj Ray, Development Economics, (DE) Princeton University Press, 1998
Partha Dasgupta, Economics: A Very Short Introduction (AVSI), Oxford
University Press, 2007

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