Intro Quiz: Limitations of economic and social measures of development

Video: Limitations of economic and social measures of development

﻿Hello there. Welcome to your geography lesson on limitations of economic and social measures of development. My name is Mr. Foster, and you're going to need a few things before we begin. Can you make sure that you've got pen and paper so that you can write down any excellent geography that you need to during the course of the lesson? And can you make sure that any notifications that may go off and distract you from your work are switched off or on silent? Make sure that you're somewhere quiet, away from anybody who might interrupt, and when you're ready, we'll begin. So in this lesson, we're going to look at the limitations of economic measures of development, such as GNI per capita, and the limitations of social measures of development, such as birth rate, death rate, and literacy rates. In addition to this, we will also look at the key geographical skill of describing a distribution from a choropleth map. So our starting point is that there are two main ways to measure development. There are economic ways to measure development, which address money. The most common economic way that you are lucky to have heard of is GNI per capita. The amount of money the country earns, including its overseas investments divided by the population of that country, given in US dollars, There are also social measures of development, which take into account human welfare, and take into account quality of life. These can include birth rate, death rate, infant mortality rates, access to safe water, and a range of other measures. Both economic and social measures of development have limitations. These limitations are often that a particular measure has far too narrow a focus on only one area of life within a country, but also, and particularly this is true for social measures of development, that the measure does not reflect the whole country, and therefore gives a false impression of what life is like for many within that country. Because of this, we need to be very careful when using both economic and social measures of development to understand the limitations. So we'll look then at the limitations of economic measures of development. First off, we'll focus on GNI per capita, the total amount of money earned by a country, including its overseas investments, divided by its population. GNI per capita works, and works well for a huge range of uses when we're looking at development. However, it doesn't take into account illegal black market economic activity, which in some countries, and particularly LICs, could be a significant contributor to the economy. GNI per capita is also an extremely narrow way to look at level of development, as it completely ignores social indicators such as life expectancy or literacy rate. Clearly, GNI per capita is an important factor in other measures of development within a country, as a high GNI per capita is often used to invest in healthcare or education, which would have a major influence on social conditions in the country. However, just using GNI per capita means that we don't get that same level of insight as we would using a wider range of indicators, and particularly incorporating social indicators. So GNI per capita includes all economic activity in a country. Pause here, think hard. Is that true or false? Clearly that is false, because GNI per capita does not take into account illegal black market activity that could contribute significantly to the economy. Now pause, read through the four options carefully. Which is the best option to complete this sentence? GNI per capita does not take into account? And clearly the correct answer is option one, GNI per capita does not take into account social indicators, such as the health of a population. And now, pause the video to complete your task. Explain one weakness of an economic measure of development, such as GNI per capita for two marks. In order to do this well, identify a weakness with GNI per capita, and use a developed point to explain this. Pause here and take a couple of minutes to write your answer down in your book or in your paper. And here we have our model answer. GNI per capita only looks at the economic conditions in a country, and ignores social conditions. As a result, it doesn't tell us about human welfare, an important aspect of development. Here we have a clear statement, GNI per capita only looks at economic conditions, and then we have our developed point using a connective, as a result, in order to produce a chain of reasoning. As a result, it doesn't tell us about human welfare. This is clearly too much out to an excellent answer. We'll now move on, and we'll look at the limitations of social measures. An important limitation of all social measures is that they don't always show variation within a country. It could be that conditions in certain areas of the country are actually reflective of very high levels of development, whilst conditions across the majority of the rest of the country reflect much lower levels of development. Social measures typically take an average, which makes it easier to compare countries, but variation can occur within countries and social measures don't always reflect this. There are a few limitations to birth rate as a measure of development. First off, birth rate can be influenced by government policy, as has been seen with China's one child policy, although that is not a policy, which is in place at the moment. And secondly, birth rate isn't always truly reflective of babies being born as in LICs in the poorest, least developed rural areas, births are not always registered. Therefore, that means in certain LICs, birth rate can be given as an estimate rather than a true figure. Limitations of death rate as a measure of development are more complicated. Typically, you would expect death rate to be higher in LICs and in NEEs where healthcare provision is not as effective. Where food intake is not as of high a quality. Where instances of disease from limited access to safe water are much higher, and this is all correct. And we would expect to see death rates higher in LICs, in areas of low development. However, death rate can also increase when a country reaches an extremely high level of development. And this is because of the concept of an ageing population. In countries including Germany and Japan, excellent healthcare and excellent quality of life means that life expectancy has dramatically increased, and there is a far, far larger proportion of people who are very old. Who are in their seventies and their eighties, in their nineties, even. Consequently, because of the larger proportion of the population are of that age, as a result, the death rate goes up, because people who are in their seventies, their eighties, and their nineties are more likely to die, therefore contributing to a high death rate. So typically a high death rate shows that the country has a low level of development. However, there are cases where there is a higher death rate than would be expected in countries with a very, very high level of development. Infant mortality rates have limitations that are very similar to the limitations of birth rates. Infant mortality rates are most difficult to measure in the poorest areas of the least developed countries. In remote, rural areas, babies could be born and could die before their first birthday, and can be buried in unmarked graves, and consequently will never be counted towards official figures for infant mortality rates. Now this is a hugely tragic thing to have to learn about, but it's an important thing to understand in terms of the limitations of infant mortality rate in the poorest regions. There are, but the deaths of people below the age of one that are not registered due to happening in very remote, rural areas, meaning that this figure can in certain places where the data's most important, be an estimate. Limitations of access to clean water are that access to clean water is sometimes controlled by economic measures. Sometimes clean water is available, but people in the poorest parts of urban areas can't afford it. Access to clean water can also change extremely quickly. A flood could result in sewage polluting clean water supplies, and therefore clean water could no longer be available. And that can happen within a matter of hours or days. Leaking pipes could also cause clean water supplies to be contaminated extremely quickly. And therefore, that could change extremely quickly. Literacy rates can be an effective measure of development, but they are very difficult to measure in areas where there've been hazards or in areas where there are war zones. Literacy rates are also inconsistent between males and females in LICs and NEEs. Males are far more likely to be educated, and more likely to be able to read than females. So whilst the literacy rate may give us an idea of levels of development, it's not consistent between males and females in some parts of the world. So now think hard about the following statement. Social measures of development reflect the levels of development across an entire country. Is that true or is that false? And the correct answer is this is false. There can be extremely high levels of development in certain areas, in wealthy areas within a country. Whereas typically in LICs, remote, rural areas can have far lower levels of development. Social measures of development give us a useful average across a whole country. However, there can be variation within that country. Next, why is infant mortality data not always reliable? Pause here, read the four options carefully. Think hard about what you think is the right answer. And the correct answer is option four, deaths of babies are not always recorded in poor rural areas in LICs. Your next task, and something to write down in your book, or on paper, explain why death rates can be high in both LLCs and HICS. If need be, go back and rewatch the section on death rates. Once you're happy, have a go at that question for two marks. And here's your model answer, death rates are high in some HICS due to improved healthcare, leading to an ageing population. Death rates are high in some LICs due to lack of healthcare in many areas. Two clear points, death rates are high due to healthcare in HICS. And then the explanation, leading to an ageing population. Death rates are high in LICs due to lack of healthcare in many areas. So now we'll move on. Having looked at limitations of both social and economic measures of development, we'll now look at the potential solution to this, composite measures. The word composite means a combination. So a combination of measures that we use in order to counter some of the limitations of our social and economic indicators, when they're used individually. The most commonly used composite measure of development is known as the human development index, or the HDI. It's a composite measure combining social and economic measures of development to avoid the limitations of using just single measures. In order to calculate the HDI, it combines life expectancy, literacy rates, and GNI per capita into an HDI score between zero and one. Life expectancy gives us an idea of overall health in a country. Literacy rates gives us a good idea of the quality of education within a country, and GNI per capita gives us an idea of the strength of the economy within a country. All three are combined into an HDI score between zero and one, with one being the highest, zero being the lowest, but typically countries being found somewhere within the range of around 0.4 for the very lowest levels of development, and around 0.9 for the very highest levels of development. Here, we see some examples. The UK, a country with a very high level of development. HIC has an HDR score of 0.92. Chad, which is a country with a much lower level of development that we know to be an LIC, has an HDI score of 0.40. India, which is an NEE, a newly emerging economy, has an HDI score of 0.65. These scores are calculated by combining GNI per capita, life expectancy, and literacy rates. And they're put into that format, a decimal here between zero and one, in order to enable quick and easy comparison between countries. So the human development index is calculated using, read the four options, think hard, choose which one you think is the correct answer. And the correct answer is option two, life expectancy, literacy rate, and GNI per capita. Taking into account the measure of health, life expectancy, and a measure of education, literacy rates, and an economic measure, GNI per capita. An HDI score of 0.8 is high or low? Think hard. The answer is high. And now to look at a task related to key geographical skills. In this case, describing a distribution from a choropleth map. A choropleth map is shaded according to a set of values. And generally, as you go from one set of colours to another, the set of values changes. This makes it easier to look at the map and make quick judgments. So here we have a map of South America, and the task is to describe the HDI distribution, the human development index distribution in South America for three marks. The key is on the left hand side, which gives us an idea of HDI scores. And we've got three countries labelled within South America, Argentina, Brazil, and French Guiana. In order to do well, we need to identify an area with a high HDI. We need to identify an area of lower HDI. We need to use data from the key in our answers. When describing distribution, we also need to make sure that we use key geographical terminology, such as compass directions. We need to use them accurately and effectively. Pause here, and take a few minutes in your book to write down a description of the HDI distribution in South America. And here's our model answer. Areas with a HDI score of between 0.8 and 0.849 are found in the south of South America, such as in Argentina. Whereas, areas in the centre and north, such as in Brazil, are mostly between 0.750 and 0.799. There is one country in the far north, French Guiana, with a score of over 0.850. So here's your main task. Explain two reasons why an HDI score of 0.5 suggests a low level of development for four marks. In order to do this well, you need to know what the indicators are that make up the HDI, so that you can talk about two of them, and you need to understand what a low level of development looks like for those indicators. I provided a model, and this model looks at the opposite question of what an HDI score, of how an HDI score of 0.8 would show a high level of development. So an HDI score of 0.8 shows a high GNI per capita is likely. This means the average income for people will be very high, and this HDI score also shows life expectancy will be higher, which shows standards of health will be high in this country. Now this model has taken two of the three indicators used to form the HDI, GNI per capita, life expectancy. It is equally valid to use literacy rate, and to discuss how literacy rate could show a high level of development. And if that was to be used, it would look something like an HDI score of 0.8 shows that a high literacy rate is likely. This means that education standards would be high in this country. Think hard then, about what an HDI score of 0.5 would look like for those indicators that make up the human development index, the HDI. Pause, in your book or on your paper, take four or five minutes and write a high quality answer to this question. And here we have a model answer. An HDI score of 0.5 shows a low GNI per capita is likely. This means that the average income for people will be very low. This HDI score also shows life expectancy will be low, which shows that standards of health will be poor in this country. And that brings us to the end of our lesson on limitations of economic and social measures of development. We've covered reasons why GNI per capita is not a completely effective way to measure development. And we've looked at the limitations of a range of different social measures of development. In addition to that, and very importantly, we've looked at how we can overcome these limitations by using a composite measure of development. In this case, the human development index, or the HDI. I hope you've enjoyed the work that we've done in this lesson. And I look forward to seeing you in other lessons moving forward. Thank you, and goodbye.

Exit Quiz: Limitations of economic and social measures of development

Completed: Limitations of economic and social measures of development

In this lesson, we will learn about the weaknesses of a range of economic and social measures of development, and how they are calculated. We will also look at an alternative, the human development index, a composite indicator that combines both economic and social measures.

Geography

Limitations of economic and social measures of development

Introductory Quiz

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Final Quiz

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