<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><table class="gmail-m_-3341113692170000994thread-head" style="border-spacing:0px;display:block;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,"Apple Color Emoji","Segoe UI Emoji","Segoe UI Symbol";padding:24px 0px 10px"><tbody><tr style="border:0px none;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:top"><td style="border:0px none;margin:0px;padding:2.25px 10px 0px 0px;vertical-align:top;width:33px"><div style="font-size:16px;line-height:26px"><a href="https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJxVkMtuxCAMRb9m2DXiFR4LFt30NyIneBLaBFICI6VfX2ayGsnClo19de4EBeeUT7eno5DnM5RzR1eWjOBJPTAPwTsuNKNKaeKd9Mz0hoRjuGfEDcLqSq5I9jquYYISUnxtSGmoIYsDySxKrTjvwWNPtWAaJivvAqy0or9EofqAcUKHD8xnikhWt5SyHzfxeeNfLb7TluY1jbB6fHRHHY8C0083pa0Nd0z7iq0wQjcF-fH8TYLjlDPKuKJ9b6TpWBdFNX-Bgf29SbrN_O0Qye6YlnovENt0frK92g1taHmrMZRzwAjjiv6iLpdxLx-GGSPmZqgfoDimGFOSam4sZxdks0Uwo62hijRdn9pWdG9g_-UfhmE" target="_blank"><div style="font-size:16px;line-height:26px"><img src="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/w_66,h_66,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff0b07a89-88a1-4602-9ff6-cc30a631330b_426x532.jpeg" alt="" style="border: medium none; border-radius: 50%; display: block; height: 33px; max-width: 550px; vertical-align: middle; width: 33px;" class="gmail-CToWUd" width="33" height="33"></div></a></div></td><td style="border:0px none;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:top"><div style="font-size:16px;line-height:26px"><h1 style="color:rgb(26,26,26);font-family:"SF Compact Display",-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,"Apple Color Emoji","Segoe UI Emoji","Segoe UI Symbol";font-size:16px;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.16em;margin:0px 0px 0.625em"><a href="https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJxVkk1vozAQhn9NuCXCxgFz8GGbj12qhmyrKmr2gow9ATdgs9gkhV9fJzlV8vgw73xI7zOCO6hMP7LOWBfcvsKNHTBX98BlMFjoCyUZjhIUxnESSEYkoksaKFuceoCWq4a5foCgG8pGCe6U0fcOQmhIg5oBTxISyuWSIkJQRDkWZVyGaYIp55QuH0v5IBVoAQwu0I9GQ9Cw2rnOzqJfM7z179O0pmpMyRsJl4UdSuu4OC-Eab3Y3cKYft6oC9h5y52Dfl4Obt6AtV70ZS1o58dtnTmDnkVrGJ-RwIfxAzfn7NOMu0l87dZHnI9XJX6nk9ym3b9VFu-mDcmnM_Gazdqmlrfc-_HLR7hbi3G_uir-kU9-hhJ_DurlPQvzdXXdrzKb6RwdVRZn-ukiolcn2kN9jN66EhN1el0MW-7Ow9_medOaJxrZ_AVKPe93b7WO-kKe3LFTG7Efrh8kUAyHGIUIx6H3ktAFWuhooJNCPP0_I2Fb4R-uBD2zoh5OjmuvVjdQ97TnVNzcGLRyYwGalw3IB0L3uII71KICDb2_Dllwx1CMUExCzyzF6EHMM44QTVIaxoHfK43v0uwHpW9RHc6Q" style="color:rgb(26,26,26);text-decoration:none" target="_blank"><img src="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/w_30,c_scale,f_png,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack.com%2Ficon%2FMessageIcon%3Fv%3D2%26height%3D15" style="border: medium none; max-width: 15px; vertical-align: middle;" alt="" class="gmail-CToWUd" width="15" height="15">Poor lives matter, but less</a></h1><table class="gmail-m_-3341113692170000994post-meta" style="margin:0px 0px 6px" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td class="gmail-m_-3341113692170000994post-meta-item" style="color:rgb(117,117,117);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,"Apple Color Emoji","Segoe UI Emoji","Segoe UI Symbol";font-size:14px;font-weight:300;height:20px;line-height:20px;padding:2px 12px 2px 0px;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:middle"><a href="https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJxVkMtuxCAMRb9m2DXiFR4LFt30NyIneBLaBFICI6VfX2ayGsnClo19de4EBeeUT7eno5DnM5RzR1eWjOBJPTAPwTsuNKNKaeKd9Mz0hoRjuGfEDcLqSq5I9jquYYISUnxtSGmoIYsDySxKrTjvwWNPtWAaJivvAqy0or9EofqAcUKHD8xnikhWt5SyHzfxeeNfLb7TluY1jbB6fHRHHY8C0083pa0Nd0z7iq0wQjcF-fH8TYLjlDPKuKJ9b6TpWBdFNX-Bgf29SbrN_O0Qye6YlnovENt0frK92g1taHmrMZRzwAjjiv6iLpdxLx-GGSPmZqgfoDimGFOSam4sZxdks0Uwo62hijRdn9pWdG9g_-UfhmE" style="color:rgb(117,117,117);display:block;text-decoration:none" target="_blank">Jomo Sundaram<br></a></td><td class="gmail-m_-3341113692170000994post-meta-item" style="color:rgb(117,117,117);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,"Apple Color Emoji","Segoe UI Emoji","Segoe UI Symbol";font-size:14px;font-weight:300;height:20px;line-height:20px;margin-right:0px;padding:2px 0px;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:middle;white-space:nowrap">Jan 26</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div class="gmail-m_-3341113692170000994markup" style="font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,"Apple Color Emoji","Segoe UI Emoji","Segoe UI Symbol";font-size:15px;line-height:26px;margin-bottom:12px;word-break:break-word"><p style="color:rgb(26,26,26);font-size:15px;line-height:1.42em;margin:0px 0px 1em"><a href="https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkM2OhCAQhJ9muI0BRMQDh73saxiQVtlBcPmZifv0i5p0upPqVCpfTSrDEuIh95AyOteYjx1kXiMog0qCOFojadsTzHmPjGSGiE4gm8Y5AmzKOpljAbQX7eyksg3-cjAmsECrFK2eFCa8Y2QY-MyIwVoPdO5aAVh3wx2qirHgJ5DwhngED8jJNec9PdqvB_2u8_l8mlf6CVtoQlyqcPquE-LT2Tek56ZyhvjUJT8dpISspJgSTCjHXSeYaEjj2yL-LFHD74PhbaFNKjplNb2aKWwoyjStZc7K1-9ysl1yRRvr3Yq3-RjBK-3A3NT5Lu7qYVzAQ6yFmlFlSTghnOGeioGSG7LW0hLRDwJzVHNNqC4vT6TFBa2cgfc__c6H3Q" style="color:rgb(26,26,26);text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">https://www.ksjomo.org/post/poor-lives-matter-but-less</a></p><p style="color:rgb(26,26,26);font-size:15px;line-height:1.42em;margin:0px 0px 1em">Current
development fads fetishize data, ostensibly for ‘evidence-based
policy-making’: if not measured, it will not matter. So, forget about
getting financial resources for your work, programmes and projects, no
matter how beneficial, significant or desperately needed.</p><p style="color:rgb(26,26,26);font-size:15px;line-height:1.42em;margin:0px 0px 1em"><strong>Measure for measure</strong></p><p style="color:rgb(26,26,26);font-size:15px;line-height:1.42em;margin:0px 0px 1em">Agencies,
funds, programmes and others lobby and fight for attention by
showcasing their own policy agendas, ostensible achievements and
potential. Many believe that the more indicators they get endorsed by
the ‘international community’, the more financial support they can
expect to secure. </p><p style="color:rgb(26,26,26);font-size:15px;line-height:1.42em;margin:0px 0px 1em">Collecting enough national data to properly monitor progress on the Sustainable Development <a href="https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkM1yhSAMhZ_msrsOICIuWHTT13BQotIqWH7q2Kdv1BkmGUIOJ_lGk2EO8dR7SJlcoc_nDjovEYwlJUHsndW8bhmVsiVWC8tUo4hL_RQBNuNWnWMBspdhdaPJLvhbIYSiiiy6njrOmkaM9TS2xlCQErhsgHVCTS2Ix9QU68CPoOEX4hk8kFUvOe-v-uPFP_Ecx1G5PXk4UuUhY4VT1mGiV5icN6h-z2sYzPqecTL_xt63BbymkrLBjmEFLPzCGvYN_PUHcZpTzijjkjaNEqpila-L-nPMdD8vQbeZV6kMqB-_qzFsJOo0LmXKxuPrfK1_l3H7HvNWvMtnD7eXfcDkh-2Nqp_BQ0TmtjdZM8mYFLTlChE9HJBczVTbKSoJ-tqAKq-_whae1XD8f8GIkyA" style="color:rgb(26,26,26);text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">Goals</a>
is expensive. Data collection costs, typically borne by the countries
themselves, have been estimated at minimally over three times total
official development assistance (ODA). </p><p style="color:rgb(26,26,26);font-size:15px;line-height:1.42em;margin:0px 0px 1em">Remember aid declined after the US-Soviet Cold War, and again following the 2008-9 global financial crisis. More recently, much <a href="https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkMtuhSAQhp_msDsGEBUXLLrpa5gRRqVFsFxq7NOXc0wmM8lc_sn_aci4hnipI6RMXmnK14EqbxHBkJIwTtYo3g6M9v1AjBKGyU4Sm6YlIu5gncqxIDnK7KyGbIN_XwghqSSbGsZ5MIBIQQuzjPOMumUUurFlnTCa3k-hGIteo8JfjFfwSJzacj4e7ceDf9Y4z7OxR_J4psZjrh1O2VALbWvaq8ZzsR68tuCe1i8unOnpQ36aqujCsaPP4OoqsYpTzijjPe06KWTDGt8W-WcZjD8PQfeVN6nMKYP-bnTYSVRJb2XJ4Ot0fTl-t6vhqda9eJuvCT3MDs3NIt8433SmFT3GitlMkBXrGesFHbgcObutV1gtk8MoaU_qXxPqlVdfYQ-rCzO4auAfQ6mPTA" style="color:rgb(26,26,26);text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">more ODA is earmarked</a> to ‘support’ private investments from donor countries.</p><p style="color:rgb(26,26,26);font-size:15px;line-height:1.42em;margin:0px 0px 1em">With
data demands growing, more pressure to measure has led to either over-
or under-stating both problems and progress, sometimes with no dishonest
intent. ‘Errors’ can easily be explained away as statistics from poor
countries are notoriously unreliable. </p><p style="color:rgb(26,26,26);font-size:15px;line-height:1.42em;margin:0px 0px 1em">Political,
bureaucratic and funding considerations limit the willingness to admit
that reported data are suspect for fear this may reflect poorly on those
responsible. And once baseline statistics have been established,
similar considerations compel subsequent ‘consistency’ or ‘conformity’
in reporting.</p><p style="color:rgb(26,26,26);font-size:15px;line-height:1.42em;margin:0px 0px 1em">And
when problems have to be acknowledged, ‘double-speak’ may be the
result. Organisations may then start reporting some statistics to the
public, with other data used, typically confidentially, for ‘in-house’
operational purposes.</p><p style="color:rgb(26,26,26);font-size:15px;line-height:1.42em;margin:0px 0px 1em"><strong>Money, money, money</strong></p><p style="color:rgb(26,26,26);font-size:15px;line-height:1.42em;margin:0px 0px 1em">Economists
generally prefer and even demand the use of money-metric measures. The
rationale often is that no other meaningful measure is available. Many
believe that showing ostensible costs and benefits is more likely to
raise needed funding. Using either exchange rates or purchasing
power parity (PPP) has been much debated. Some advocate even more
convenient measures such as the prices of a standard McDonald’s
hamburger in different countries.</p><p style="color:rgb(26,26,26);font-size:15px;line-height:1.42em;margin:0px 0px 1em">Money-metrics imply that estimated economic losses due to, say, smoking or non-communicable diseases (<a href="https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkM1uhSAQhZ_msruGH0VcsOimr2FGGJVWwfJTY5--3GtCZpIDZ4bzGci4hHjpI6RMXmXM14E6rxHBkpIwjs5qLnpGpeyJ1a1lqlPEpXGOiDu4TedYkBxl2pyB7IJ_O9pWUUVWbcwAasK-NxS6QQxCMAuCSqbsLORk7qVQrENvUOMvxit4JJtecz4e4uPBP-s5z7NxR_J4psZjrgqnnNZGVS1gbcSUnjtsvuToXr94ziHYp_MJTanKVZ8Rp6uLUcYl7TrVqoY1XhT15xgMP4-W7gtvUplSBvPdmLCTqJNZy5zB19vllfYt17Bj7XvxdfCIHqYN7c0h3yjfZMYFPcaK2I6QNZOMyZb2XA2c3bErKMFUPygqSd1rQ3V5_RX2sGxhgs3i7z9r3o1x" style="color:rgb(26,26,26);text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">NCDs</a>),
including obesity, tend to be far greater in richer countries, owing to
the much higher incomes lost or foregone as well as costs incurred.</p><p style="color:rgb(26,26,26);font-size:15px;line-height:1.42em;margin:0px 0px 1em"><strong>Development discourse changes</strong></p><p style="color:rgb(26,26,26);font-size:15px;line-height:1.42em;margin:0px 0px 1em">The
four UN Development Decades after 1960 sought to accelerate economic
progress and improve social wellbeing. Unsurprisingly, for decades,
there have been various debates in the development discourse on
measuring progress.</p><p style="color:rgb(26,26,26);font-size:15px;line-height:1.42em;margin:0px 0px 1em">The
rise of neoliberal economic thinking, claiming to free markets, has
instead mainly strengthened and extended private property rights.
Rejecting Keynesian and development economics, both associated with
state intervention, neoliberalism’s influence peaked around the turn of
the century.</p><p style="color:rgb(26,26,26);font-size:15px;line-height:1.42em;margin:0px 0px 1em">The so-called ‘<a href="https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkEluwzAMRU8T7WJo8CAvtMim1zBkiZHV2pSrIYZ7-ioxQZAAP4iP_4zO4EI81R5SJu8x5XMHlZcI2pKSIE7eKi4GRvt-IFa1lslOEp-mZwTYtF9VjgXIXubVG519wM9H20oqyaIoiNHOPeeCWiHmeTC1xqfpKIAduu4y1cV6QAMKXhDPgEBWteS838Tjxr9qH8fR-D0hHKlByPXCKRvqovyt6rR4dDngPZYV0t0sGh3ctdMeq0684pQzynhPu062smENiiL_PNPj762lm-NNKnPK2vw0JmwkqmSW8swaq-reMT_nmnKqeyvo8zkB6nkFewHIF8MPkskBQqxs7aSzYj1jfUsHLkfOrryVkGByGCXtSfW1oX6h-g5bcGuY9Wrh9Q9eOYqb" style="color:rgb(26,26,26);text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">Washington Consensus</a>’
of US federal institutions from the 1980s also involved the Bretton
Woods institutions, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World
Bank, both headquartered in the American capital. </p><p style="color:rgb(26,26,26);font-size:15px;line-height:1.42em;margin:0px 0px 1em">In
2000, the UN Secretariat drafted the Millennium Declaration. This, in
turn, became the basis for the Millennium Development Goals which gave
primacy to halving the number of poor. After all, who would object to
reducing poverty. The poor were defined with reference to a poverty
line, somewhat arbitrarily defined by the Bank. </p><p style="color:rgb(26,26,26);font-size:15px;line-height:1.42em;margin:0px 0px 1em"><strong>Poverty fetish</strong></p><p style="color:rgb(26,26,26);font-size:15px;line-height:1.42em;margin:0px 0px 1em">Presuming money income to be a universal yardstick of wellbeing, this <a href="https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUMtuxCAM_JrlthGQhMeBQy_9jYiAN6FNIAWzVfr1ZTeSZcu2xuMZZxGWlE9zpILklSY8DzC4ZrCe1AJ5Ct7wXjIqhCTeDJ6pUZFQpkcG2G3YDOYK5KjzFpzFkOIbMQyKKrIaK9wox5lK4WUPg1Za08esvR5Hx3opLlJbfYDowMAT8pkikM2siMet_7jxzxbhKBF-SxcBW8cpk60w2hJsYQ-x6bgfqYHxvM-ACPleo4dc0EYf4nKPAB48CYZTzijjgo6jGlTHuthX9ReY1T-3ge4L70qdG8x9dy7tJJvi1vpoZ9p2eel9j5vcqdW9xoDnBNHOG_jLCbzMfHszLRAht-f8ZNEwwZgYqORKc3YJb1b1TEmtqCCN16eGiuYr7WnZ0mw3D89_GFCN-w" style="color:rgb(26,26,26);text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">poverty measure</a>
has been challenged on various grounds. Most in poorer developing
countries sense that much nuance and variation are lost in such
measures, not only for poverty, but also for, say, <a href="https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkM2OhCAMx59muGkAUfHAYS_7GgahKrsKDpSZuE-_OCZNG2j__fgZjbCEeKojJCSXG_E8QOEaQVuSE8TRWcWbntGu64lVwjLZSuLSOEeAXbtNYcxAjjxtzmh0wX8UQkgqyar0JLjh7WQ15R1tzTAPs-h73lttBIX2HqqzdeANKHhBPIMHsqkV8Xg0Xw_-XcwdycM71R6wvDhlXQmMFveGymhfweZ258s51Zr9ArHS3lZHKO3wrJ7Zmd_trN4O12opp2EpMGHfHe7gkTjFKWeUXRu2Usia1b7J8s8xPTwfgu4Lr1OeEmrzWxcdiSqZNc-ofckuF4XPd4EwXm2zd3iO4PW0gb354I34Q2xcwEMsS9hRo2IdY52gPZcDZzeOArBhsh8k7UiZa0NRefUT9rBsYdKbhdc_2oiWwg" style="color:rgb(26,26,26);text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">hunger</a>.</p><p style="color:rgb(26,26,26);font-size:15px;line-height:1.42em;margin:0px 0px 1em">Anyone
familiar with the varying significance, over time, of cash incomes and
prices in most countries will be uncomfortable with such singular
measures. But they are nonetheless much publicised and have implied
continued progress until the Covid-19 pandemic.</p><p style="color:rgb(26,26,26);font-size:15px;line-height:1.42em;margin:0px 0px 1em">Rejection of such singular <a href="https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUMtuxCAM_JrlthGQhMeBQy_9jYiAN6FNIAWzVfr1ZTeSZcu2xuMZZxGWlE9zpILklSY8DzC4ZrCe1AJ5Ct7wXjIqhCTeDJ6pUZFQpkcG2G3YDOYK5KjzFpzFkOIbMQyKKrIaK9wox5lK4WUPg1Za08esvR5Hx3opLlJbfYDowMAT8pkikM2siMet_7jxzxbhKBF-SxcBW8cpk60w2hJsYQ-x6bgfqYHxvM-ACPleo4dc0EYf4nKPAB48CYZTzijjgo6jGlTHuthX9ReY1T-3ge4L70qdG8x9dy7tJJvi1vpoZ9p2eel9j5vcqdW9xoDnBNHOG_jLCbzMfHszLRAht-f8ZNEwwZgYqORKc3YJb1b1TEmtqCCN16eGiuYr7WnZ0mw3D89_GFCN-w" style="color:rgb(26,26,26);text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">poverty measures</a>
has led to multi-dimensional poverty indicators, typically to meet
‘basic needs’. While such ‘dashboard’ statistics offer more nuance, the
continued desire for a single metric has led to the development,
promotion and popularisation of composite indicators. </p><p style="color:rgb(26,26,26);font-size:15px;line-height:1.42em;margin:0px 0px 1em">Worse,
this has been typically accompanied by problematic ranking exercises
using such composite indicators. Many have become obsessed with such
ranking, instead of the underlying socio-economic processes and actual
progress.</p><p style="color:rgb(26,26,26);font-size:15px;line-height:1.42em;margin:0px 0px 1em"><strong>Blind neglect</strong></p><p style="color:rgb(26,26,26);font-size:15px;line-height:1.42em;margin:0px 0px 1em">Improving
such metrics has thus become an end in itself, with little debate over
such one-dimensional means of measuring progress. The consequent ‘tunnel
vision’ has meant ignoring other measures and indicators of wellbeing.</p><p style="color:rgb(26,26,26);font-size:15px;line-height:1.42em;margin:0px 0px 1em">
In recent decades, instead of subsistence agriculture, cash crops have
been promoted. Yet, all too many children of cash-poor subsistence
farmers are nutritionally better fed and healthier than the offspring of
monetarily better off cash crop or ‘commercial’ farmers. </p><p style="color:rgb(26,26,26);font-size:15px;line-height:1.42em;margin:0px 0px 1em"> Meanwhile, as cash incomes rise, those with diet-related NCDs have been
growing. While life expectancy has risen in much of the world, healthy
life expectancy has progressed less as ill health increasingly haunts
the sunset years of longer lives.</p></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div>