by Naresh Jotwani

This post is an invitation to readers to consider new ways to assess how wisely a society spends the resources available to it. The post is not a ‘scholarly research paper’, as that phrase is understood, but merely an essay. [Note 1]

Real life case #1:

A family of four lives in a small town in Gujarat: father D, mother, a daughter who just passed Class XI (Science) exams, and a son who is a year or two younger. D owns and drives a Maruti van, which we hire occasionally. He has been driving for over two decades, and says he has witnessed driving conditions becoming more difficult over the years.

D’s family probably spends under thirty thousand rupees a month (that is, under US$300). With good parental care and support, the two children are doing well in studies. The daughter is bright and lively. She helps her mom out with household chores, including cooking. There is no rent expense for the modest-sized house D owns, and the monthly electricity bill is small. D also owns a plot of vacant land in the town, which however yields no income.

A part of the daughter’s Class XII tuition classes is held online. For the duration of the online classes, she borrows dad’s smartphone. Since our family had a spare smartphone – a smaller, older model – we gave it to them. D says he will use that older phone, and the daughter will keep D’s smartphone until the final Class XII exams next year. Judging by what we have seen, she should get good results and admission to her preferred course of college studies. But we also know that the family is resilient, and the daughter will do well in whichever course of further studies she finally chooses.

Real life case #2:

Another family of four lives in our village: parents, elder daughter and son who is a few years younger. The family gets by on about fifteen thousand rupees (US$150) a month, or less, which sum however excludes the grain, vegetables et cetera which they receive in exchange for farm labour. In government records, the family is likely categorized ‘below poverty level’ and ‘backward community’. The daughter, who did not complete class X, married a boy last year from a family which is much better off than hers. She is a bright, happy girl, and will no doubt grow to be a loving mother and homemaker in the family to which she now belongs.

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What must be observed in these two real-life case studies is that, with extremely modest household budgets, the two families are achieving remarkable growth in well-being. Both are happy families, optimistic about the future, and well-integrated into their respective communities.

Suppose we reckon the effectiveness of money spent in terms of human development per dollar (HDD) – that is, individual growth in knowledge and maturity, per dollar spent. By this measure, the two families are spending their money very wisely indeed! [To be honest, my family at times spends money unwisely; there is certainly room for improvement.]

The following may seem incredible – but it is true!

Say a rich guy is ruining his life while running through a few million dollars on the usual vices. Economists today will count the millions of dollars spent towards GDP, but will remain totally and stubbornly blind to the guy’s personal ruin!

Economists’ mantra today seems to be: Spend! Spend! Spend! Spend for the sake of the GDP (and bank profits😉). Of course we don’t care if you thereby ruin your own life! [Note 2]

Real life case #3:

Consider the greatest ever president in the history of mankind, with whom we are unfortunate enough to be co-habiting the planet today. Many billions of dollars are spent every day under his authority, and economists happily add up these billions towards GDP. Sadly, judging by the reports we see – broken families, crime, drug use, debt, scams, neuroses – the nett human development per dollar in this case is negative!

In the light of the above evidence, admittedly anecdotal, please consider the following proposition:

The progress of a society depends on its HDD being positive and high; negative HDD implies decline. In other words, this measure indicates how well the society utilizes available resources – which are in fact blessings of nature – towards genuine human development.

The human development process is almost imperceptibly slow. To sense this slow development, one needs to watch a young person grow over the years, and to share in the family’s trials and happiness. [Note 3]

Economists of whichever ilk – right, left, Keynesian, Marxist, Austrian, the whole morbid lot! – will no doubt be totally flummoxed by this notion. The slow but sure benefits of loving nurture, culture, family, community ties et cetera are outside their grotesquely quantitative models. The truly beneficial deep psychological, spiritual processes of life are glacially slow. These processes are invisible and unknown to these blinkered so-called experts!

The conventional question in India, heard for many decades, used to be: ‘When will we catch up with them?’

In the light of the above discussion, the legitimate questions today should be: ‘What do you mean catch up? In HDD terns, we are already way ahead!’

The hugely under-rated virtues of loving nurture, culture, thrift, moderation, hard work – in short, old-fashioned wisdom – need to be re-discovered. This is critical at a time when GDP-worshipping crazies seem intent on plunging the world towards hugely destructive conflict and economic crash.

Notes:

[1] The online dictionary defines ‘essay’ as ‘a short literary composition on a particular theme or subject, usually in prose and generally analytic, speculative, or interpretative’.

[2] In actual fact, the very idea of counting only the money spent, with no thought spared for the benefits gained thereby, is gross!

[3] Unlike GDP, the concept of HDD is not easily quantifiable. Bhutan uses gross national happiness (GNH), which is based on inner wellbeing, health, time use, education, cultural diversity, resilience, good governance, community vitality, ecological diversity and living standards (here). Elsewhere, an attempt has been made to define a happiness index for countries (here). Curiously, Bhutan ranks low by the latter index. Evidently, the best things in life are not quantifiable!