NSSCO Development Studies 6136 flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Human Development Index

A composite index averaging normalised scores for life expectancy, schooling and GNI per capita, giving a broad measure of average human wellbeing rather than income alone.

Gini coefficient

A number between 0 and 1 summarising income or consumption inequality, derived from the Lorenz curve; 0 means perfect equality and 1 means one person holds everything.

Multidimensional Poverty Index

An index counting overlapping deprivations in health, education and living standards, identifying people deprived in at least one-third of weighted indicators.

Purchasing power parity

An exchange rate that equalises the price of a common basket of goods across countries, allowing more meaningful comparison of real incomes and living standards.

Modernisation theory

The view that development follows stages from traditional agrarian society to industrial mass consumption, assuming a linear path modelled on Western Europe.

Dependency theory

An argument that peripheral economies are kept poor by exporting primary goods to core economies, which capture most surplus through unequal trade relations.

Structural adjustment programme

A set of loan conditions from the World Bank and IMF requiring liberalisation, privatisation, deregulation and fiscal austerity, criticised for social costs in health and education.

Sustainable development

Development that meets present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own, balancing economic, social and environmental goals.

Demographic transition

A model describing the shift from high birth and death rates through rapid growth to low stable rates as countries develop economically and socially.

Dependency ratio

The number of people under 15 and over 64 divided by the working-age population aged 15 to 64, expressed as a percentage, showing the economic burden.

Demographic dividend

Economic growth potential arising when a falling fertility rate raises the working-age share, provided sufficient jobs and human capital investment exist.

Total fertility rate

The average number of children a woman would bear during her lifetime if current age-specific fertility rates remained unchanged.

Absolute poverty

A condition measured against a fixed minimum threshold, such as the international extreme poverty line of about US$2.15 per day in 2017 PPP.

Relative poverty

A condition defined in relation to the living standards of others in the same society, often as income below a set percentage of the median.

Social exclusion

Processes that deny individuals or groups access to institutions, services, markets and decision-making, going beyond low income alone.

Poverty gap

A measure of the depth of poverty: the average shortfall of poor people's income below the poverty line, expressed as a share of that line.

Food security

A situation where all people at all times have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food meeting dietary needs and preferences.

Food sovereignty

The right of peoples and countries to define their own food, farming and agricultural policies, prioritising local producers and culture over global markets.

Land tenure

The system of rules governing who holds rights to use, control and transfer land; in Namibia it includes freehold, communal and resettlement categories.

Import substitution

An industrialisation strategy protecting domestic producers behind tariffs and quotas so locally made goods replace imports, aiming to build local industry.

Comparative advantage

The principle that a country gains from specialising in goods it can produce at lower opportunity cost than trading partners, then exchanging them.

Terms of trade

The ratio of a country's export price index to its import price index, multiplied by 100, showing how much imports a unit of exports buys.

Dutch disease

The erosion of non-resource tradable sectors, especially manufacturing, caused by currency appreciation following a boom in resource exports.

Tragedy of the commons

The depletion of an open-access resource because each user gains individually from overuse while the costs are shared across all users.

Precautionary principle

The rule that serious or irreversible environmental damage should not be risked merely because full scientific certainty about the harm is lacking.

Environmental impact assessment

A structured process predicting the environmental and social effects of a proposed project before approval, usually requiring public consultation and mitigation measures.

Gender parity index

The ratio of a female value to a male value for an indicator such as school enrolment; a value of one indicates equality between the sexes.

Human capital theory

The proposition that spending on education, training and health is investment that raises workers' productivity and future earnings, benefiting individuals and society.

Catastrophic health expenditure

Large out-of-pocket health payments that consume a substantial share of a household's income, forcing cuts to other needs and sometimes pushing households into poverty.

Good governance

The exercise of public authority characterised by accountability, transparency, rule of law, participation, responsiveness, effectiveness and equitable treatment of citizens.

Right to development

A 1986 UN declaration framing development as an inalienable human right in which people participate fully and share fairly in resulting benefits.

Vision 2030

Namibia's long-term national development plan aiming to transform the country into an industrialised, knowledge-based economy with high living standards by 2030.