Browsing by Author "Booysen, Frederik Le Roux"

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    Basic needs development and democracy : a political economic model and application to the South African situation
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1996) Booysen, Frederik Le Roux; Van der Berg, S.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences. Dept. of Economics.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The last decade has witnessed an unprecedented wave of democratisation with democratic elections being called for in countries across the globe. Although this trend had its origins in the more developed countries of Asia and eastern Europe during the late 1980s, it has in the 1990s also spread towards the developing world. Countries such Peru, Malawi, Zambia South Africa and the Philippines are but a few examples of developing countries which in recent years have reached out to embrace democracy. Despite this process of poilitical revival, however, poverty and destitution remain a reality in most of these developing countries. The challenge for these and other developing countries which may in the near future democratise is to succeed in establishing a democratic political economy within which democratic development will become a reality.
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    The measurement of economic development : alternative composite indices
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2000) Booysen, Frederik Le Roux; Van der Berg, Servaas; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Economics.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The success of policies aimed at economic development cannot be monitored and evaluated without development indicators. These indicators are also crucial in comparing levels of development across time and space so as to come a greater understanding of the development process. Yet, economic development does not mean the same thing to everyone. As a result, there exists a variety of indicators of economic development. Five main classes of development indicators are distinguished on the basis of the shift over time in our understanding of economic development (Chapter 1). A distinction is drawn between indicators of national income and economic growth (Chapter 3), employment, unemployment and underemployment (Chapter 4), and poverty and inequality (Chapter 5). Social indicators (Chapter 6) and composite indices (Chapter 7) of economic development represent two futher classes of development indicators. These indicators differ in terms of their content, method and technique, comparative application, simplicity, clarity, focus, availability and flexibility. These main classes of development indicators are evaluated with reference to these dimensions of measurement which are described in detail in Chapter 2. There is no one indicator that can be described as an ideal, all encompassing measure of economic development, at least not in terms of its performance on these dimensions of measurement. Hence, the measurement of development remains imperfect, but nonetheless makes an invaluable contribution to the study of economic development. In fact, development studies will be impossible without access to such a variety of development indicators. Given the importance of development indicators in development studies, two new composite indices of development are presented here to address two specific gaps in indicator research. Indices of Human Security (HSIs) and Inefficiency ratios are developed to determine the extent to which countries have made progress on human security as defined by the UNDP (Chapter 8). Progress is assessed in terms of both effort and outcomes, as well as the extent to which efforts are actually translated into outcomes. Indices of Reconstruction and Development (RDIs) are employed to measure the extent to which the nine provinces of South Africa have made progress on the development objectives described in the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) (Chapter 9). The measurement results suggest that there remain substantial disparities in progress on both human security and reconstruction and development. These new composite indices are also employed to determine those development characteristics associated with progress on human security and reconstruction and development. So, for example, disparities in human security are associated with certain urban and population dynamics, as well as communications capacity and infrastructural development. Progress on reconstruction and development is associated with lower population pressure, higher matric pass rates, less poverty and inequality, and more political representativeness at the provincial level. The RDIs also underscore the extent to which progress on the RDP has not materialised in rural areas. Furthermore, current provincial disparities in progress on reconstruction and development appear still to be indicative of the racial dynamics of development so characteristic of the Apartheid era.