Criteria for the living standard in development countries.pdf

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extracted text: Criteria for the giving Standard in Development Countries If the ruler of an oil-rich sheikdom of the Persian Gulf receives high royalties and profit percentages from a foreign oil concern, statistics on the per-capita-income in this small country—small, when going by the population figure—jump. But the slum-huts housing the fishermen, the primitive camps of the camel shep herds, the clay “houses” of the oasis peasants still tell as little about a high standard of living as do the corrugated sheet-iron barracks of the workers in the oil fields. If the per-capita-income is measured within political frontiers of a state instead of within economically linked regions, there is at once a source of mis-apprehensions (though, of course, not of er rors because the mathema tics are correct). If the spread of incomes can not be shown statistically, the pic ture may be so distorted as are the reflections in a con cave mirror. There-surely are statistical methods for the true balanc ing-out of the spread-factors, but there are no reliable data for the factual spread: no bazar-merchant, high ranking civil servant or policeman will readily disclose his real income, and any evaluation in terms of money of the “ra tions” of the lowest clases is extremely difficult. The Quality-Quantity Problems It may be immensely dif ficult to express values es tablished in the local curren cy in terms of a realistic rate of exchange related to the ac tual purchasing power of a local currency and thus al lowing for international com parisons—but, this is nonethe less possible. The real difficulty is in the nature of the “comparison problem” between quality and quantity, sociological and economic evidence. We know these difficulties from attempts to calculate the economic values of “cul tural demand” or “training investments”, the “prestige value” or “status”, from our own experience. Particularly the advertising industry faces 80 Panorama time and again the problem that economic figure-standdards and “imponderables” are not comparable. This has indeed been the cause of a number of bankcruptcies as a result of unforeseen trends in the public’s taste. In evaluating the standard of living it is perhaps not necessary at all to side-step into a third and only alleged ly common level of the mo ney value. Perhaps there are objective standards. Search for an Objective Standard The search for them is go ing on all the time, anyway. One has constructed “con sumer baskets”, one has com pared, calories’ quantities, one has also tried to include mini m u m requirements for clothes or houses. There are obvious objec tions against these endeav ours: Allegedly, one quarter of a litre of wine belongs to the daily minimum for “the” Frenchman, whereas he will willingly abstain from con suming the Russian oatmeal. The minimum demand for spices is probably higher in Africa or Asia than it is in the case of the prosperous people in Europe. An Eskimo certainly needs more clothes than an inhabitant of a Paci fic island, and the housing problem is quite different in Southern Europe than in Central Europe, Canada or Cuba. On the strength of these ob jections the attempts to ar rive at an objective standard should, however, not be aban doned. But they call for mo desty on behalf of all con cerned, because neither the economist, the sociologist, doctor of medicine or the technical expert, can alone solve the problem without all-round liaison and coopera tion. It will not be possible quickly to arrive at actual figures, rather will it be ne cessary initially to agree on quantitative standards. Climatically Comparable Areas It is no longer the case that groups belonging to different levels of culture or prosperity live exclusively within cer tain latitudes. There are peo ple of all cultural groups in all climatic zones: there are Negroes in Alaska as well as North-Europeans in the equa torial belt. There even are closed-in areas with a recog nized high standard of re quirements in zones previous ly reserved for other groups of the society—such exam ples are Hawaii or NorthEastern Australia. October 1961 81 One should in the beginning not set universal patterns but, instead, compare only climatically comparable areas with each other. It is, for ins tance, possible that air-con ditioned installations in the hot zone contribute towards indolence or comfort; it is equally possible that air-con ditioning has favourable psy chological influences on health, appetite, working per formance and mental capa bilities. Once these aspects have been clearly varified—but not before—it will be .possible to try and establish their econo mic value. It is also necessary to find out whether air-condi tioning has been installed in only one room of each dwel ling house, public building (such as Government of fices), hospital, school and large shopping centres or whether there is air-condi tioning throughout the floor space. Perhaps the value of an air-conditioning system is after all only limited when compared with the tradition al building style in climati cally hot ountries? Between the extreme of a modem house with electric air-conditioning and the hot and sticky mud-hut there are, however, many ^radiations; other factors—sucn as the building density, water sup ply, sanitary facilities, the cleanliness or the neighbour ing vegetation — are often more important for comfort and psychological effect than all technical building details together. It is equally possi ble to think in terms of a value-scale taking into ac count such things as protec tion against the heat of the sun. wind, rain, inquisity, theft, dangerous animals or insects, as well as other as pects: supply with fresh air, lighting, cleaning, durability, earthquake-proof. For in stance. on the Indian-Pakis tani sub-continent it is quite possible to evaluate the fenc ing of open verandas, which is as expensive as it adds to comfort and health. Tangible characteristics of this kind can be established also in the field of clothing, food, learning and training or health, preservation. It is for instance controversial whether whisky really contri butes towards a high living standard in development countries. It has also not been established whether tinned pork represents a necessity in hot climates. It is, however, not open to doubt that not merely calories are required for the preservation of the full working capacity, but a2 Panorama proteins and animal fats. Whether a woman wears a sari, a loin cloth or a cotton dress can be left out of the considerations—not so, how ever, the necessities of min imum protection from weath er and insects, as well as from others’ view, in colour ful and tasteful tissues not irritating for the skin and which are available in suffi cient variety and quantities Standards Arising from the Practice In other words: in finding standards from day-to-day practical experience and ob servations we must abstain from basing our evaluations on questionable original sta tistic^ and, should, instead, endeavour to develop — from inter-disciplinary spade-work — concrete standards arising from the practice... stand ards which are of importance for the economic-social eva luation and commercial mar ket prospects. * * Romantic or interest-condi tioned gossip that this group or the other is said not to want this or the other im provement may well be left out. It may of course be that some families did not like to go over from potatoes and in ferior fats to a more differ entiated diet. It has all the same been established that this change-over was good for them. Many people on our earth may not have a de sire for electric current or healthier drinking water be cause their power of imagi nation has up to now been limited. Nevertheless, the transformation from the light-less night to the lamp or the waterpool via the well to the water-tap should, and can, be evaluated. Science has a chance to prove, on the example of the working-out of standard mea sures, whether in the age of development aid it will and can face the mastering of tasks of this nature. CONSTANCY His companion bent over the dying man, to catch the last faintly whispered words. The ut terance came with pitiful feebleness, yet with sufficient clearness: “I am dying—yes. Go to Fannie. Tell her— I died—with her name—on my lips, that L—loved her—her alone always ... And Jennie—tell Jen nie—the same thing.” October 1961
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