NSSCO Development Studies 6136 cheat sheet

Development is multidimensional: income growth plus health, education, freedom and equity; a rise in GDP alone is not development.

GDP per capita = GDP ÷ population; it measures average output, not its distribution, and excludes unpaid work and environmental depletion.

GNI per capita uses income received by residents, including remittances and net factor income from abroad; Namibia is classed as an upper-middle-income country on this measure.

HDI = geometric mean of three dimension indices: life expectancy (health), mean and expected years of schooling (education), and GNI per capita (income); each index is normalised 0–1.

GII (Gender Inequality Index) combines reproductive health, empowerment (seats in parliament, secondary education) and labour market participation; higher values mean greater inequality.

MPI counts overlapping deprivations across health, education and living standards; a household is multidimensionally poor if deprived in at least one-third of weighted indicators.

Gini coefficient ranges 0 (perfect equality) to 1 (perfect inequality); Namibia's consumption Gini is among the world's highest, above 0.55.

Purchasing power parity converts incomes to a common basket of goods, giving a better welfare comparison than market exchange rates.

Modernisation theory (Rostow's five stages: traditional society, preconditions for take-off, take-off, drive to maturity, age of high mass consumption) assumes linear change modelled on Western industrialisation.

Dependency theory (Prebisch, Frank) argues that peripheral economies export primary commodities and import manufactures, so surplus flows to the core; import substitution industrialisation is its policy prescription.

Structural adjustment programmes (World Bank/IMF, 1980s) conditioned loans on liberalisation, privatisation, deregulation and fiscal austerity; critics cite social costs in health and education.

Neoliberalism holds that markets allocate efficiently and state intervention distorts; the Washington Consensus packages its ten policy prescriptions.

The basic needs approach (ILO, 1976) targets minimum food, shelter, health, education and sanitation rather than aggregate growth.

Sustainable development (Brundtland Report, 1987) means meeting present needs without compromising future generations' ability to meet theirs.

Human development approach (Sen, Haq) frames development as expanding capabilities and freedoms; income is instrumental, not the goal.

Post-development and capability critiques reject one universal path and stress participation, local knowledge and agency of the poor.

Demographic transition stages: high birth and death rates → death rates fall (rapid growth) → birth rates fall → low stable rates; Namibia is in the later transitional phase.

Natural increase = birth rate − death rate per 1,000; net migration adds or subtracts from this.

Doubling time (years) ≈ 70 ÷ annual growth rate in percent.

Dependency ratio = (population under 15 + over 64) ÷ working-age population (15–64) × 100; a high ratio raises the burden on the working-age group.

Population pyramid shape reveals history: broad base indicates high fertility; narrowing base indicates fertility decline; bulges show migration or mortality shocks.

Malthus predicted geometric population growth against arithmetic food growth; Boserup argued population pressure induces agricultural intensification.

Demographic dividend arises when the working-age share rises and fertility falls, provided jobs and human capital investment exist.

Total fertility rate is the average number of children a woman would bear over her lifetime at current age-specific rates.

Absolute poverty is measured against a fixed threshold (international extreme poverty line, currently about US$2.15/day in 2017 PPP); relative poverty is measured against the median income of a society.

Headcount ratio = number of poor ÷ total population; the poverty gap measures depth, i.e. the average shortfall below the line.

Gini coefficient measures inequality of a distribution; Lorenz curve plots cumulative share of income against cumulative share of population, and the Gini equals twice the area between the curve and the diagonal.

Social exclusion refers to processes that deny groups access to institutions, services and decision-making, not merely low income.

Chronic poverty is long-duration or transmitted across generations; transient poverty is temporary movement below the line.

Cash transfers and social grants reduce the depth of poverty but rarely change its structural causes without complementary services.

Capability deprivation (Sen) counts poverty as unfreedom in health, education and participation, not only consumption.

In Namibia, poverty is concentrated in rural areas and former communal homelands, reflecting colonial land and labour legacies.

Food security has four pillars: availability, access, utilisation (nutrition and safety) and stability over time.

Food sovereignty stresses peoples' right to define their own food and farming systems; it differs from food security's focus on supply and access.

Subsistence farming produces mainly for household consumption; commercial farming produces for sale and typically uses more capital and hired labour.

Namibia's agricultural constraints: low and erratic rainfall, high evaporation, sandy soils and recurrent drought; only a small share of land is arable.

Land tenure types in Namibia: freehold (commercial), communal (customary tenure) and resettlement farms; tenure security affects investment and credit access.

Green Revolution raised yields through improved seed, fertiliser and irrigation but required credit, inputs and water, favouring better-endowed regions.

Extension services, cooperatives and market access convert production gains into rural incomes; value chains include storage, transport and processing.

Irrigation and conservancy-based approaches (e.g. water harvesting, conservation agriculture) mitigate drought risk in semi-arid Namibia.

Primary sector extracts raw materials (mining, agriculture, fishing); secondary processes them (manufacturing, construction); tertiary provides services; quaternary covers knowledge activities.

Industrialisation strategies: import substitution (protect domestic industry behind tariffs) versus export-oriented industrialisation (compete in world markets).

Comparative advantage (Ricardo) suggests specialising where opportunity cost is lowest; it does not guarantee gains are distributed fairly.

Terms of trade = export price index ÷ import price index × 100; a decline means a country must export more to buy the same imports.

Tariffs raise revenue and protect producers but raise consumer prices; quotas limit quantity; subsidies lower production costs.

Regional blocs: SADC, SACU (customs union with common external tariff and revenue-sharing), COMESA and the African Continental Free Trade Area.

Dutch disease: a resource export boom appreciates the currency and erodes competitiveness of other tradables such as manufacturing.

Value addition (beneficiation) of minerals, fish and agricultural products raises local employment and export earnings versus raw exports.

Three pillars of sustainability: economic, social and environmental; policies should satisfy all three.

Tragedy of the commons: open-access resources are overused because benefits are individual while costs are shared; solutions include clear property rights or community rules.

Externality = a cost or benefit not reflected in market price, e.g. pollution; the polluter-pays principle internalises it.

Precautionary principle: where serious damage is possible, lack of full scientific certainty is not a reason to postpone cost-effective measures.

Climate change adaptation adjusts to expected impacts; mitigation reduces greenhouse gas sources or enhances sinks.

Namibia is highly vulnerable to drought and desertification; the Community-Based Natural Resource Management programme links conservation to tourism revenue for communities.

Environmental impact assessment identifies and predicts effects of a proposed project before approval; strategic environmental assessment applies this to policies and plans.

Renewable energy (solar, wind, hydro) and the green hydrogen initiative are central to Namibia's low-carbon growth strategy.

Gender is socially constructed roles and relations; sex is biological; gender equality concerns rights, opportunities and outcomes.

Gender parity index = female value ÷ male value for an indicator (e.g. enrolment); a value of 1 indicates parity.

Women's empowerment indicators include share of parliamentary seats, labour force participation, decision-making power and control over assets.

Returns to education: schooling raises productivity and earnings; girls' education correlates with lower fertility, better child health and higher household income.

Human capital theory treats education and health spending as investment yielding future returns, not only consumption.

Health system building blocks (WHO): service delivery, health workforce, information, medicines and technology, financing, and leadership/governance.

Communicable diseases (HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria) and non-communicable diseases both burden Southern African health systems; HIV prevalence in Namibia is among the region's notable challenges.

Out-of-pocket health payments can cause catastrophic health expenditure and push households into poverty; prepayment and pooling reduce this risk.

Good governance characteristics: accountability, transparency, rule of law, participation, responsiveness, effectiveness and equity.

Corruption diverts public resources, raises costs and undermines trust; Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index scores countries 0–100.

Human rights are universal, indivisible and inalienable; civil and political rights sit alongside economic, social and cultural rights.

Right to development (1986 UN Declaration) frames development as a human right in which people are active participants, not passive beneficiaries.

The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights includes peoples' rights to self-determination and to a satisfactory environment.

Decentralisation transfers powers and resources to local authorities; it can improve responsiveness but requires local capacity and fiscal transfers.

Civil society and a free press act as accountability mechanisms by monitoring public spending and exposing misuse.

Rule of law means laws are publicly known, applied equally and enforced by independent courts; it underpins secure property rights and investment.

Namibia gained independence in 1990; the Constitution is noted for its Bill of Rights and environmental protection clause (Article 95).

Vision 2030 is Namibia's long-term development plan; the Harambee Prosperity Plan and National Development Plans (NDPs) operationalise it.

Namibia's economy is small and open, dependent on minerals (diamonds, uranium), fishing, tourism and agriculture; SACU receipts are a major revenue source.

Colonial legacy: the German and South African administrations allocated land and infrastructure unequally; land reform (resettlement, Affirmative Action Loan Scheme) addresses this.

SADC promotes regional integration, peace and security; its protocols cover trade, health, education and gender.

Southern African challenges: high inequality, youth unemployment, HIV/AIDS, drought and reliance on commodity exports.

Namibia's small population (about 2.5–3 million) and vast area create high service-delivery costs for infrastructure, schools and clinics.

SACU revenue-sharing formula allocates customs and excise receipts to members; volatility in this revenue affects national budgets.