Development with a Human Face: Experiences in Social Achievement and Economic Growth

Within the last fifty years, most developing countries have made health and educational advances that took nearly two centuries in the industrialized countries. This book presents retrospective studies of ten developing countries that managed to exceed the scope and pace of social achievement of other developing countries, with many of their social indicators now being comparable with those of industrialized countries. This book attempts to learn the lesson of their success. Half the ten countries studied have combined rapid economic growth with social achievement, and are now considered to have high-performing economies. Significantly, the high-growth economies achieved social progress very early in the development process, when national incomes were still low. Others grew more slowly and experienced interrupted growth. However, they demonstrate that it is possible to achieve a high level of social development even without a thriving economy, if the government sets the right priorities. All ten countries achieved sustained improvement in child survival and educational levels despite low incomes, precisely because the investment required for the provision of basic services is low in cost but high in effectiveness. The cases chosen represent all the developing regions, and offer a variety of routes to high educational status, decreased child mortality, and low fertility. The book provides valuable guidance to policy-makers in developing countries in every region seeking to replicate these successful social experiments.

Table of Contents:
Profiles in Success Common Elements and Diversities Health and Education Policies Social Development in Botswana Mauritius: The Roots of Success Social Development in Zimbabwe Social Development in Kerala Sri Lanka's Social Development Role of the State in Korea Economic Transformation in Malaysia Social Development in Barbados Social Development in Costa Rica Human Development in Cuba Lessons from Case Studies Social Development, Growth, and Poverty

About the Author :
Santosh Mehrotra is Senior Development Economist at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva. Richard Jolly is Special Adviser to the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Review :
`This path-setting and highly commendable study on human development does much to counter the widespread mood of development pessimism that afflicts both the developed and developing world' Development and Change `A final, very illuminating chapter addresses the intricate relationships and synergies between social development, growth, and poverty' Development and Change