This report sets out the argument that development has been incorrectly focused around solely increasing national incomes, with little focus paid to other metrics.
As Seers says in his introduction:
“Why do we concentrate on the national income in this way? It is of course convenient. Politicans find a single comprehensive measure useful, especially one that is at least a year out-of-date. Economists are provided with a variable which can be quantified and movements in which can be analysed, into changes in sectoral output, factor shares or categories of expenditure, making model-building feasible.
“While it is very slipshod for us to confuse development with economic development and economic development with economic growth, it is nevertheless very understandable. We can after all fall back on the supposition that increases in national income, if they are faster than the population growth, sooner or later lead to the solution of social and political problems.”
The paper instead proposes a greater focus on other factors, such as nutrition, livelihoods, equality, education and freedom of speech.
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