Human Development BY GEORGE CAUSER AND JOE DALE

Texts • Alan Richards and John Waterbury. 2008. The Political Economy of the Middle East. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, Chapter 4 (“Human capital: health, education, and labor markets”) • Tarik Yousef. 2003. Development, growth, and policy reform in the Middle East and North Africa since 1950. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 18(3), 91 -116. • Lisa Blaydes and Mark Kayser. 2011. Counting calories: Democracy and distribution in the developing world. International Studies Quarterly, 55, pp. 807 -908.

Development- A Concept Definitions- HDI, AHDI, GDP per capita The need for a balanced view; inequality, quality of life, life expectancy. Education, Health, ‘Calorie inequality’ all pointed out as measurements of development

Health Two key important factors health and education which are vital to labour market Garfield Significant increases in young child mortality are extremely rare this century’ Child Immunisation key Food supplements 10 % increase in girls enrolment primary education= 4. 1 deaths per 1000 decrease

Education • MENA in comparison to • • World has poor literacy rates Historical basis of states with little established legacy Recent massive increase in spending Massive divisions Rural v City Standard of Education poor within schools

Education Focus on University by State Leads to high number of Graduates Families often focus on one member which can reduce average literacy rates

Economics Low Basepoint ‘Lowest levels of socioeconomic development in the world’ Tarik Yousef ‘Bloated’ public sector Corruption and the Black Market ‘Interventionist- Redistributive Model’

Labour Market Unemployment high; especially amongst educated ‘Rentier’ state and the Dutch Disease FDI? Industrial Strategy? Reform?

Counting Calories ‘Calorie Inequality’ and the effect on development Gini co-efficient

Arab World, Kerala and Yemen • • • OECD average HDI- 0. 873 Kerala HDI-0. 790 Arab World- 0. 641 Yemen HDI- 0. 462 Primary products exports to GDP- Yemen 46% Reasons- Govt. policy in Kerala compared to MENA avg. and Yemen • Why is HDI inadequate in both cases? • What does Kerala prove is good about HDI? • Could the MENA learn anything from Kerala?

Conclusion The MENA region is underdeveloped overall. Though it compares well to South Asia, given its wealth it has often struggled to mirror development per capita Kerala as an example shows what investment in literacy and health can achieve However it also shows the struggles of an educated workforce with inadequate employment opportunities This is a shared problem with MENA has the resources to invest in other industries to achieve this balanced growth