Smart Development: The Political Economy in a Post-COVID-19 World

196 Pages·2021·9.248 MB·English

by  Arno Tausch

POLITICAL SCIENCE AND HISTORY

S D
MART EVELOPMENT

T P E
HE OLITICAL CONOMY
IN A POST-COVID-19 WORLD

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P S H
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POLITICAL SCIENCE AND HISTORY

S D
MART EVELOPMENT

T P E
HE OLITICAL CONOMY
P -COVID-19 W
IN A OST ORLD

ARNO TAUSCH
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ISBN: (cid:28)(cid:26)(cid:27)(cid:16)(cid:20)(cid:16)(cid:24)(cid:22)(cid:25)(cid:20)(cid:28)(cid:16)(cid:23)(cid:20)(cid:25)(cid:16)(cid:25)(cid:3)(cid:11)(cid:72)(cid:37)(cid:82)(cid:82)(cid:78)(cid:12)

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CONTENTS

Preface vii
Introduction xi
Chapter 1 Theoretical Background and Earlier Studies 1
Chapter 2 Methods and Measurement 29
Chapter 3 Results on the Drivers and Bottlenecks
of ‘Smart Development’ 57
Chapter 4 Discussion of the Results so Far 77
Chapter 5 Inequality and Smart Public Health Development 85
Conclusion 93
Appendix 95
References 133
About the Author 171
Index 173

PREFACE

In this book, we present a first empirical reflection on ‘smart
development’, its measurement and its possible ‘drivers’ and ‘bottlenecks’.
With the hitherto existing globalized political economy in ruins in the wake
of the Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing global economic depression, a
new societal contract has to emerge which combines well-being with a
minimum of energy inputs.
This very idea of ‘smart development’ was first proposed by Meadows
(1992) and has not been really followed up to now in social science ever
since. We first provide cross-national data, how much ecological footprint
is used in the nations of the world system to ‘deliver’ a given amount of
democracy, economic growth, gender equality, human development,
research and development, and social cohesion. To this end, we first
developed UNDP-type performance indicators from current standard
international comparative, cross-national social science data on these six
main dimensions of development and on the combined performance on the
six dimensions (a UNDP type ‘human development index plus’). We then
show the non-linear standard OLS regression trade-offs between ecological
footprints per capita and their square on these six components of
development and the overall super-UNDP development performance index,
derived from them. The residuals from these regressions are our new
measures of smart development: a country experiences smart development,
if it achieves a maximum of democracy, economic growth, gender equality,
viii Arno Tausch
human development, research and development, and social cohesion, and
the combination of them with a minimum of ecological footprint.
We then look at the cross-national drivers and bottlenecks of this ‘smart
development’, using standard comparative cross-national data, which
operationalize standard economic, sociological and political science
knowledge in international development accounting. We compare the
predictive power of these standard predictors, using standard OLS stepwise
regression procedures, based on IBM SPSS XXIV. Apart from important
variables and indicators, derived from sociological dependency and world
systems theories, we also test the predictive power of other predictors as
well, ranging from geography and achieved development levels to the clash
of civilization models, feminist theories, migration theories, and the ‘small
is beautiful paradigm’ in the tradition of Schumacher. Our estimates
underline the enormous importance of the transfer of resources from the
centre to the periphery, brought about by migration, with huge statistical
observed positive effects of received worker remittances on smart human
development, Happy Life Years, smart gender justice, smart R&D, and both
formulations of the smart development index.
Finally, we take up an issue, which has been very prominent in recent
global public health debate. Following the path-breaking articles by R. G.
Wilkinson and associates, income inequality has a very detrimental effect
on life quality. But life quality also depends in a non-linear fashion from
environmental data. Thus, the Wilkinson research agenda finds its proper
place also in debates about ‘smart development’, but certainly, the weight of
other variables, such as

• Membership in the Islamic Conference
• military expenditures per GDP
• Muslim population share per total population
• public education expenditure per GNP
• UNDP education index
• worker remittance inflows as % of GDP

also has to be properly taken into account.