By Alice Tepper Marlin
The international economy and its influence on the fluctuations in the stock market are attracting the media spotlight more than ever before. Yet, a more human struggle on a massive scale has been scarcely noticed. The disparities in consumption highlighted in the ninth annual Human Development Report brings attention to these pains by counting the winners and losers in humankind's long fight against hunger disease and poverty. The report's statistical tables chart the progress of 174 countries as they attempt to provide their citizens with adequate food, cleaning water, basic shelter and hygiene, primary health care and education. A common point of view underlies the treatment of these subjects: that sluggish development can be understood largely through the lens of the global consumption of goods and services. The conclusion offers grounds for both encouragement and great foreboding.
Information is presented in 5 chapters discussing topics such as the global state of human development, the unequal impacts of consumption and environmental damage and a prescription for accelerating progress. Human development statistics and rankings for each country are detailed in 26 tables. The overview summarizes the report's findings, profiling the world's economic outlook and provides short-term and long-term recommendations. The conclusion proposes an agenda for action, one that encourages technological innovation, the introduction of regulation and legislation, and capacity building. The Human Development Report also succeeds in covering such vital subjects as the impact of conflict resolution, infrastructure, social barriers to opportunities, and sustainable agriculture on development progress. The report is user-friendly, with good size type and clear graphics. The style of writing is succinct and intelligent, assuming knowledge of only basic social, environmental and economic indicators, and explains sophisticated concepts in simple direct language.
The report takes the position that there is no single cause for developmental progress. It argues that the world's poorest countries face a choice between repeating the industrialization and growth patterns of the last century -with their legacy of environmental pollution and inequitable resource distribution -or charting a new course that accelerates human progress while minimizing pitfalls. Another key factor is the power of citizens and consumers to affect shared destinies. The sophisticated consumer, environmental and human rights movements of the last forty years all point toward effective citizen action as a counterweight to unchecked corporate and governmental power. New consumer programs like Green Seal and the Forest Stewardship Council labels in the United States or the more established Blue Angel labeling Germany offers a means to channel purchasing power into socially responsible products. Consumer choice can also provide a link between people in industrial and developing nations, enabling us to turn our shopping carts into vehicle for social change.
Through its summaries of detailed empirical data, it shows the world, as a whole, experiencing a consumption boom and a massive, unprecedented wave of increased poverty. Total public and private global consumption in 1998 year is estimated at $24 trillion, more than twice the level of 1975 and six times that of 1950. Yet, the fruits of such prosperity is not evenly distributed with the wealthiest 1/5 of the worlds population responsible for a staggering 86 percent of global consumption, while the poorest fifth share a miniscule 1.3 percent.
Long a standard in the field, The Human Development Report reflects fresh thinking on old and new problems confronting the development community. Its summary analysis, country specific data and success in showing connections amongst a wide variety of subjects, is sure to make it a useful resource for researchers. It is also valuable for policy makers who increasingly find themselves dealing with complex issues of growth, poverty and social welfare.