The indicators reveal uneven progress. An increasing emphasis on sustainable development has resulted in creating new measures of progress.
Key Issue 4: Why Are Countries Able to Make Progress in Development?
Measuring Progress Since the U.N. began measuring HDI in 1980, both developed and developing regions have made progress in the HDI, as well as the individual variables contributing to the HDI.
Indicators of Progress The gap in HDI between developed and developing countries has narrowed since 1980, although progress among the various indicators of the HDI has varied. GNI per capita has increased much more rapidly in developed countries than in developing countries since 1980. Since 1980, mean years of education has increased by around the same number in developed and developing countries. Life expectancy has increased by approximately the same number of years in developed and developing countries during the same time period. The gap in HDI between developed countries and developing countries has narrowed since 1980. The HDI has increased more rapidly in developing regions than in developed ones.
Sustainable Development Goals To reduce disparities between developed and developing countries, the 193 members of the U.N. adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals in 2015. All U.N. members agreed to achieve these goals by 2030. The Sustainable Development Goals replaced the eight Millennium Development Goals adopted in 2002
Fair Trade Fair trade has been proposed as an alternative to the international trade model of development and as a way to promote sustainability. Fair trade is international trade that provides greater equity to workers, small businesses, and consumers. Fair trade products are made and traded according to standards that protect workers, businesses, and consumers. The fair trade movement concentrates primarily on exports from developing countries to developed countries. Sustainability is promoted by offering better trading and working conditions for producers and workers in developing countries. Fair trade organizations, supported by consumers, raise awareness of deficiencies in conventional international production and trade and the role of fair trade in improving economic, social, and environmental conditions for producers and workers. Three sets of standards distinguish fair trade. One set applies to producers, a second set to workers on farms and in factories, and a third set to consumers.
Fair Trade Producer Standards Critics of international trade claim that only a small percentage of the price a consumer pays for a good reaches the individual in the developing country who produces it. In contrast, fair trade returns about one-third of the price to the producer in the developing country. Fair trade is a set of business practices designed to promote economic, social, and environmental goals. These include:
Raising the incomes of small-scale farmers and artisans by eliminating some of the intermediaries.
Distributing the profits and risks associated with production and sale of goods more fairly among producers, distributors, retailers, and financiers.
Increasing the entrepreneurial and management skills of the producers.
Promoting safe and sustainable farming methods as well as working conditions, such as by prohibiting the use of dangerous pesticides and herbicides, and by promoting the production of certified organic crops.
Fair trade organizations implement these principles and monitor and certify that practices comply with the standards. Many small-scale farmers and artisans join cooperatives to qualify for credit, purchase materials at lower cost, and reinvest profits in communities.
Fair Trade for Worker Standards The international trade development approach does not make protection of workers’ rights a high priority. In contrast, fair trade regarding workers’ rights requires that workers be:
paid fair wages—at least enough to cover food, shelter, education, health care, and other basic needs,
permitted to organize a union and to have the right to collective bargaining, and
protected by high environmental and safety standards.
Fai Trade & Customers Most fair trade products are food such as chocolate, sugar, bananas, and honey. In North America fair trade products include craft products such as jewelry, textiles, and ceramics. Fair trade organizations work directly with producers, cut costs, and so return a greater percentage of the retail price to the producers.
10.4
Agglomeration The benefits that companies experience due to being clumped closely together
Dependency theory The idea that MDCs have become wealthy at the expense of LDCs
Export processing zone Regions in LDCs that offer tax breaks to attract export-driven production processes like factories producing goods for foreign markets
Fair trade A movement that encourages multi-national corporations to pay living wages to workers in LDCs instead of the lowest possible wage
Millennium Development Goals Eight goals adopted by the U.N. in 2002 to reduce disparities between developed and developing countries by 201 5.
Sustainable development Economic development that is conducted without depletion of natural resources at rapid rates
Sustainable Development Goals Seventeen goals adopted by the U.N. in 201 5 to reduce disparities between developed and developing countries by 2030.