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07.29.2009 , 07.27.2010 iris loterte | thesis related report
CONVENTIONAL ECONOMIC MEASUREMENT
IS NOT A SUFFICIENT SOLUTION TO ENSURE
QUALITY OF LIFE AND ALLEVIATE POVERTY
1) Deficiencies of Economic Indicators, 2) Ambiguity of Sustainable Development
Why “poverty” exists and persists?
1. Review on Sustainable Development 2. Review on Economic Measurement 3. Postulates: Transdisciplinary Economics 4. Postulates: Transdisciplinarity of Sustainable
Development 5. Some issues on Economic Growth and Development 6. Reasons why problem persists (if any!) 7. The Methodology of Transdisciplinarity (on thesis)
Presentation contents:
1992 The Rio Earth Summit… Agenda 21 - Action Plan/ “Blueprint for Sustainable Development” (40 chapters, 300 pages) Chapter 36: Promoting Education, Public Awareness and Training
Sustainable Development = Development that meets the needs of
the present without compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their needs.
Background/ History…
1987 The Brundtland Commission…
2000 UN Millenium Summit
Halve Extreme Poverty
Universal Primary Education
Empowerment of Women/ gender equality
Reduce <5 mortality by 2/3
Reduce maternal mortality by 3/4
Reverse spread of diseases, esp. HIV/AIDS, Malaria
Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Form a Global Development Partnership
for aid, trade, debt relief
Millenium Development
Goals by 2015
Background/ History cont’d…
2.8 billion living on < $2/day)
Growing gap between rich & poor
6 million children died from hunger In 10 years
1.1 billion lack clean water
27% coral reefs Seriously threatened (up from 10%)
Background/ History cont’d…
10 years after Rio Declining indicators
Greenhouse gas emissions up 9%
Extinctions on the rise
2002 The World Summit on Sustainable Development…
“Our biggest challenge in this new century is to take an idea
that seems abstract -- sustainable development -- and turn it
into a reality for all the world's people.”
Kofi Annan, UNSG, 2001
The Decade of Education
for Sustainable Development
2005-2014
UNESCO: appointed lead UN agency
Approved by UN
Gen. Assy. 2002
Others forming: Portugal, Greece, Sweden, the Philippines, India, etc.
National Initiatives
US Partnership for the DESD
Japan Council on the DESD
German National Committee for the DESD
TRANSDICIPLINARY ECONOMICS FOR SUSTAINABILITY
An Excerpt from Prof. Maxneef Presentation
Postulates for a Transdisciplinary Economics for Sustainability.
1.The economy is to serve the people and not the people to serve the economy.
2.Development is about people and not about objects.
3.Growth is not the same as development and development does not necessarily require growth.
4.No economy is possible in the absence of the ecosystems services.
5.The economy is a subsystem of a larger and finite system, the biosphere, hence permanent growth is impossible.
VALUE PRINCIPLE FOR A
TRANSDISCIPLINARY ECONOMICS
FOR SUSTAINABILITY.
6. Under no circunstances whatsoever can an economic process, or interest, be above the reverence of life.
NEEDS
MATRIX Being
(qualities) Having
(things) Doing
(actions) Interacting (settings)
Subsistence physical,
emotional and mental health
food, shelter, work work, feed, procreate,
clothe, rest/sleep
living environment, social setting
Protection care, adaptability, autonomy
social security, health systems,
rights, family, work
cooperate, plan, prevent, help,
cure, take care of
Living space, social environment,
dwelling
Affection respect, tolerance, sense of humor,
generosity, sensuality
friendships, family, relationships with
nature
share, take care of, make love,
express emotions
privacy, intimate spaces of
togetherness
Understanding critical capacity,
receptivity, curiosity, intuition
literature, teachers, educational and communication
policies
analyse, study, meditate, investigate
schools, families, universities, communities
Participation adaptability, receptivity,
dedication, sense of humor
responsibilities, duties, work,
rights, privileges
cooperate, propose, dissent, express opinions
associations, parties, churches,
neighborhoods
Idleness / Leisure
imagination, curiosity, tranquility,
spontaneity
games, parties, spectacles, clubs,
peace of mind
day-dream, play, remember, relax,
have fun
landscapes, intimate spaces,
places to be alone, free time
Creation
imagination, boldness, curiosity,
inventiveness, autonomy,
determination
skills, work, abilities, method,
techniques
invent, build, design, work,
compose, interpret
spaces for expression, workshops,
audiences, cultural groups
Identity sense of belonging,
self- esteem, consistency
symbols, language, religion, values, work, customs, norms, habits,
historical memory
get to know oneself, grow,
commit oneself, recognize oneself
places one belongs to, everyday
settings, maturation stages
Freedom autonomy, passion, self-esteem, open-
mindedness, tolerance
equal rights
dissent, choose, run risks, develop
awareness, be different from,
disobey
temporal / spatial plasticity
(anywhere)
“ Development as it is usually conceived is based on a particular view of human nature… …This view, which is taken for granted by economic rationalists, assumes that human beings are driven by a limitless craving for material possessions.”
– Manfred Max-neef, 1987.
•Personal consumption
•Income distribution
•Public consumption
expenditure
•Value of household and
community work
•Services of public capital
•Net capital growth
•Net foreign lending
•Costs of unemployment
•Costs of underemployment
•Costs of overwork
•Private defensive expenditure on health and
education
•Value of advertising
•Costs of commuting
•Costs of noise pollution
•Costs of transport accidents
•Costs of industrial accidents
•Costs of irrigation water use
•Costs of urban water pollution
•Costs of air pollution
•Costs of land degradation
•Costs of loss of native forests
•Costs of depletion of non-renewable energy
resources
•Costs of climate change
•Costs of ozone depletion
•Costs of crime
•Costs of problem gambling
+ -
Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW)
FIRMS FAMILIES
Goods and services market
Factors and products market
CLASSIC APPROACH TO THE ECONOMIC PROCESS
Circular flow of money in a closed system that does not have relations with the environment and ignores the
physical consequences of economic activity.
ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS APPROACH
SOLAR ENERGY
DISPERSED HEAT
USEFUL ENERGY
FIRMS FAMILIES
Goods and services market
Factors and
products market
RAW MATERIALS
MATERIAL WASTE
RESIDUAL ENERGY
RECYCLING
¿How is succes measured in conventional economics?
An economy is considered to be successful when purchasing power and consumption
increase
Classical economic indicator: GDP
It determines:
•Decision making
•Policy making
•Investment plans
Deficiencies of the indicator
It does not include: Depreciation of natural capital The value of not remunerated activities The activities of the INVISIBLE SECTORS Compensatory and defensive expenditures are added not subtracted
GDP = C + Y + Ge + X - I
This hypotesis became robust as a consequence of a number of country studies.
THRESHOLD HYPOTESIS :
“For every society there seems to be a period in which economic growth –conventionally understood and measured- brings about an improvement in the quality of life, but only up to a point- the threshold point- beyond which, if there is more economic growth, quality of life may begin to deteriorate”
GROWTH IS NOT EQUIVALENT TO DEVELOPMENT
“But poverties are not only poverties.
Each poverty, if intense and prolongued, generates pathologies which, on occasions, exceed the individual, and
become collective pathologies.
They are generated by the systematical hindrance of the satisfaction of fundamental human needs
Pathologies are not economic problems, they affect the whole of society.”
THE UNDERSTANDING OF COLLECTIVE PATHOLOGIES REQUIRES TRANSDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH AND
ACTION
On poverty issue:
METHODOLOGY FOR TRANSDISCIPLINARY
STUDY AND APPLICATION
(Knowing the Truth and Reasons)
Intersections of immeasurability and impossibilities
1. People are created as well as the environment. 2. Environment (& natural resources) is to support and sustain
life of the people. 3. Economy is impossible in the absence of the people and its
home environment. 4. Development is about and because of the people and the
environment. 5. Management is created by & for the people themselves
and for the environment. 6. Economy and Environmental management are
developments made by and could only be sustained by the people.
7. People are the center of economy and development, and these are only possible in the presence of the environment.
7 POSTULATES FOR TRANSDISCIPLINARY SD FRAMEWORK
Sustainable Development
Environmental Management
Economics and Growth
Interdependence and Indispensability
People
TRANSDISCIPLINARITY APPROACH
TO UNDERSTAND AND ACCEPT THE TRUTH
Requisite to Critical Knowledge
Transdiciplinarity: The Theoretical Bases of the Method
The core logic of triads
Understanding the present Reality
Jean Piaget (1896-1980).
Beyond disciplines
between, across and beyond
levels of Reality
Disciplinary + interdisciplinary
Approaches
=
Axiomatic approach
“Hidden thirds”
1st Triad: The 3 concerns of the Transdisciplinary Approach: • Between the disciplines • Across different disciplines • Beyond all disciplines
2nd Triad: The 3 guiding postulates parallel to the axiomatic approach: • There are different levels of Reality and, correspondingly,
different levels of perception; • The passage from one level of Reality to another in insured by the
logic of the included middle; • The structure of the totality of levels of Reality and perception is a
complex structure: every level is what it is because all the levels exist at the same time.
3rd Triad: The 3 physical levels of Reality in the study of natural systems • Macrophysical Level • Microphysical Level • Cyber-Space-Time Level
4th Triad: The 3 Open structure Levels of Reality • Objectivity field, independent to the Knowledge process • Subjectivity field, inseparable to the Knowledge process • “Interactive Field” in connection with knowledge process
5th Triad: The 3 Meanings in parallel to the New Logic and levels of Reality • Horizontal Meaning - this is what most of the academic disciplines
do. • Vertical Meaning - this is what poetry, art or quantum physics do. • Meaning of the Meanings refers to all levels and the hidden third.
6th Triad: The 3 Classical Regions of Reality parallel to the levels of Reality • Classical Physics • Quantum Mechanics • Religious phylosophical and artistic experiences
7th Triad: The 3 axioms of the Methodology parallel to the 3 postulates • The Ontological axiom • The Logical axiom • The Epistemological axiom
8th Triad: The 3 Terms of the New Logic of the Included Middle on Logical Axiom • The axiom of identity: A is A. • The axiom of non-contradiction: A is not non-A. • The axiom of the included middle: There exists the third term T which is at
the same time A and non-A.
9th Triad: The 3 exclusive concentration of Transdisciplinary research method • Science (theoritical, the well-defined methodology) • Technology (phenominal, the models connectiong the theoritical
principles) • Society (experimental, human being as the performers)
Sustainable Economic
Growth
(Un)Sustainable Development
Discontinuity field,
(the Included Middle)
Zone of Non-resistant to perception
For instance,
?
Understanding the People-centeredness of SD:
Axiomatic approach
psychological
sociological
(cognition)
(behavior) “The Region of Incoherence”
- Origins of constraints, loopholes, immeasurability, fragility, deficiencies, etc…
The principle of universal interdependence entails the maximum simplicity that the human mind could
imagine, the simplicity of the interaction of all levels of reality.”
Epistemological study: Human responsibility and accountability,
in all levels of reality
The Method on Field
Ex-situ Transdisciplinary Study (on-Field)
1. transect walk, visit, 2. pre-meetings/conversations
3. field visitation and observation 4. interviews and surveys
5. normal conversations 6. created conversation
a. Heuristic logic (talk: contradiction) b. Lateral thinking (tell: provocation) c. Critical thinking (think: confirmation)
7. Social network data collection
A. Pre-observation
B. Survey Design and implementation
C. Data collection (1 ) Incoherent data
D. Data Collection (2) Coherent data
a. Explicit data collection b. Implicit data collection
Transdisciplinarity Method:
Contradict
talk
tell
think Confirm Provoke
“coherent field”
1) TRUTH SEEKING
2) FACT FINDING
Evident Evaluation
Non-evident Evaluation
“T-Analysis”
The Real Problem
“surface reality” “uncovering reality”
“incoherent field”
review
compare
conclude
(informal & formal evaluation)
+
The Logic of the Included Middle:
manifestations, the intuitions
“Analysis”
Universal Levels:
‘Cognition’
PERSON
FAMILY
SOCIETY
HUMANKIND
Individual
Population
Ecosystems
Biosphere
Per
son
alit
y
Res
ou
rces
Acc
ess
Po
we
r Acc
ess
Str
uct
ura
l Acc
ess
So
cia
l Str
ata
Human Space
Ecology
pe
rson
al
Ho
useh
old
/ co
mm
un
ity
regio
n/state
wo
rld
Jurisd
iction
SD “must-be” Dimensions
1) People (individual/society);
2) Economy (needs/development);
3) Environment (ecosystems/natural resources);
4) Institutions (firms, organizations, doer of developments);
5) Management (Values) (knowledge, attitudes, culture, beliefs, etc.)
people
environment
economy
Institution
Values
(example)
Policy-making Considerations:
Spiritual Principles related to sustainability
Economic Social
Environmental
• Elimination of extremes of wealth and poverty
• Work as worship
• Moderation
• Be content w/little
• Voluntary giving
• Profit sharing
• Equality of women and men
• Elimination of all forms of prejudice
• Unity in diversity
• Universal compulsory education
• Trustworthiness
• Interdependence of all life
• Nature a reflection of the Divine
• Humility – Earth source of all our wealth
• Unity in diversity
• Cleanliness
• Kindness to animals
Painful Truth: Solutions to poverty alleviation will never be achieved, it will exist and will persist forever…
>>>>
1) Conventionality of Indicators 2) Vagueness of responsibilities 3) Existence of immeasurable factors 4) Continuity of human satisfaction level
Poverty exists due to….
1) Dominance of objective Economics 2) Locked-in dependence on specificity of Science 3) Irrationality and selfishness are constant
human nature 4) Existence of “Loopholes” on systems
Poverty persists due to…
Gracias