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Economics, English

Economic Growth is an Essential, but Insufficient Condition for Human Well-Being

The concept of economic growth can be traced back in the 18th century. However, the ideology has been dominant globally for the last five decades as nations strive to realize increment in their economy. Economy growth attains its definition from the idea of increment in a country’s value of possessions and services, which are measured for a specified period. The accumulated income is indicated as the GDP (Gross Domestic Product). On the other hand, humans are regarded as precise beings presented with three major well-being features which constitute to the many aspects of the human lifestyle. These features include Comprehensive Well-Being (CWB), Subjective well-being (SWB), and objective well-being (OWB). The first describes the environmental and education background of human, SWB defines the quality of life as well as the happiness bestowed in the society while OWB entails to the relation between human beings and material possession as well as health. There exist relationship between the human well—being and economy. There are claims that economic growth acts as the foundation for a nation’s sustainable development. This explains the bond existing between the two aspects, which the piece aims at analyzing. The benefits that are associated with economic growth and the influence in human well-being remains also need addressed. The analysis also covers the negative influences that economic growth poses to the well-being of the humans as well as other sources of human happiness.

  1. Influence of Economic Development in Eradication of Poverty

The influence of economic development on the lifestyle of individual is an aspect that must not be underestimated. The role of the stability and development of economy globally has helped in the raising of individual and community poverty level. This translates to the eradication of people living at the extreme low life. The effect is evident as shown from various nations relative to the report released by the World Bank 2008. Agreeing with a journal by Chen and Ravallion, the people living below $1.15 daily have significantly increased. The increase is estimated to be 25 % according to the study by Chen and Ravallion (Chen and Ravallion, 2008). In spite of the positive influence in regard to development of the economy, there exists evidence to critic the notion that development of the economy is a sufficient condition for human being well-being. The gap between the poor and the rich is broadening regardless of the poor improving in their lifestyle. This explains the reason behind why poor individuals continue to have un-appealing life while the rich progress in widening the gap. From a later research, by (Clark & Senik-Leygonie, 2015), which was based on the financial allocation and the effect of scarcity, there undisputable evidence concerning the negativity associated with economy development. The outcome published in the (OECD, as Anand reports, there is a significant increment with over three-quarters since the 1980s. this study also proved that the development of economy does not strive to raise the level of poor people rather than it benefits the rich, making the have-not remain living low lives. Referring to study by Mahadea and Rawat, if the case was to be identified with the exploration of the manner housing industries work, the channel would result into a supply and transfer effect (Mahadea & Mawat, 2008). To explain the occurrence, this would the effect of uplifting the standard of the house sector by building new and comfortable houses. The rooms would act as a new investment for the people living high-status life and consequently demand the poor act as buyers of the services in search for houses (Stutzer, 2004).

  1. The Increment of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) due to Economic Growth

The consequence of economic progress concerning the GDP of a nation makes it have positive correlation with the well-being of human beings. According to Clark and Senik (2015), the GDP of a nation is determined by the positive outcome in the economic development of the specific country (Clark & Senik-Leygonie, 2015). As a result, the level of living of the citizens is expected to undergo improvement. This is because the income level of the people is increased, which explains the rise in economic balance of the nation. In addition, the lifestyle of the people improves in the same rationale. Persons working toward the improvement of the economy of the country thereof have the ability to also improve the learning and corporate facilities of the country. Veenhoven and Hagerty, reports that the rise of economy of a nation accrues to a significant improvement in the lifestyle of people living in the nation and particularly the earning population (Veenhoven and Hagerty, 2006). Nonetheless, the magnitude of a person’s income inspirations has the ability to influence the well-being of the person in a negative way. This is specifically influenced by the manner an individual manipulates the income realized. An individual’s happiness is triggered by the amount of money earned by the person. The effect translated to the understanding that, a decline in the income would result in to unhappy life. This is projected due to the reason that the income gap is dependent on the financial aspirations of a person (Stutzer, 2004). The outcome does not conversely influence the same results in countries where the people’s happiness of improved by economic development. Nations that the income level is considered as low do not seem to portray the same trend. Even though the increment in per capital income is ascertained to improve the happiness of people, it is possible to conclude that economy development is inefficient to influence the well-being of people. Yet, it is importantly declining the gap between the poor and the rich.

  1. Economic Development Role in the Development of Education and Health

The health and education level of a nation is influenced by the economic status of the nations. Because a nation depends on the income generated to fund the health and education sector, these facilities register improvement when the economy has enough to invest on the projects. In a research-conducted Jorgenson, the startups of learning facilities as well as the health centers tend to depend on the amount of income generated by the nation (Jorgenson, 2006). In addition, there is improvement in the child mortality rate since investment in education enables the necessary education passage to the citizens. In addition, the tendency of children to complete their courses depends on the investment channeled in the learning facilities. A decline or increase in the per capita income determines the amount to be transferred in the investments. Regardless of the growth in economy having positive influence, it remains inadequate to make rapid advancements in human development. It is impossible to ascertain the significance of financial growth in the development of the human beings. On the other hand, the impact that human being had regarding the development of the economy is minimal in the developed countries. The effect is conversely not evidenced in the third-world countries since the health of citizens reported having an increase on quality as the economy increase. The result derives to the declaration that even though income increment is important to a country, it does not meet the conditions for enhancing the happiness of the people.

  1. Economic development has adverse effects on the environment.

The negative effects are because of the increased eradication of the ground cover (trees, grass, etc.), hence resulting in to catastrophic climate changes and environmental pollution. Study conducted by Clark (2014) shows that regardless of the positive outcomes associated with economy development, the effects on the environment are unconstructive. A large number of developing countries are reported to accelerate their economic growth by using the resources made available by nature. The actions results in to destroying the natural settings and hence resulting in to a noticeable destruction of nature. The ecological condition destroyed stands as an important aspect for determining the well-being of people (Rogers et al., 2012). Other scientists like Van Kamp stated that it is noticeable that there have been significant improvements in the life of people. Consequently, there is recommendable cohesion between the needs of the ecological conditions and the peoples’ needs. This fact is evidenced through the economic state of the United States relative to the environmental concerns. The United States economy remains higher than of the developing nations due the imbalance between the natural resources and their allocation. In addition, the other nations prove to have high subjective well-being and objective well-being when compared to that of United States (Giddings et al., 2012). However, the well-being of a society cannot be determined if the possession of an individual member is undetermined. Regarding this, it is the land to live, and the meals to have that determine the magnitude to which individuals are satisfied. This translates to the necessary requirements that must be included in the development of the economy. These requirements make the development equitable and hence resulting into the satisfaction of people’s well-being. For the community to have enough potential for growth to an extent that every member of the society is satisfied, the capability of the future generation must be considered (Ryan, 2012).

  1. Increment of Government Profit Due to Economy Development

The association amongst the well-being of people and economic improvement is noticeable since it makes it possible for the government to have profits that can be projected in to infrastructure development and provision of other social amenities. The primary measures of human well-being demands attendance by the community; this is practicable with maximizing the profits generated by the government. The major amenities are health, education, and their provision results in enhancement of happiness (Constaze et al., 2007). Typically, the basic requirements that a society needs to have include the physical and mental health. Another important need to a society is life expectancy, the three basic needs have close relation with the SWB (Clark, 2015). Regardless of these factors, nations that passed the development stage long time have quality health facilities, education grounds, and more importantly, the education offered is above average (Frey & Stutzer, 2010). Despite this, the existence of a favorable working environment characterized with well-equipped education facilities have the ability to result in to happiness. This remains as prove that good per capital income does not meet all the requirements to influence the well-being of humans.

Conclusion

The impact of development in the economy on enhancement of human well-being can be evidence as discussed in the piece. With the explanation of both the positive and negative outcomes that are associated with economy development, it is possible to claim that it is characterized with good and negative results. Much of the text proves that economic development has the capacity to affect the well-being of people. The effects have proved significant through the improvement of projects like healthcare services, education platforms, and more importantly improving the life expectancy. There are also notable negative effects as a result of economic growth (environmental degradation, pollution) but the positive impact supersedes the negativity. There exists uncountable evidence concerning the prosperous effects that improvements in economy can result. Furthermore, it is evitable to deduce that economic growth is beneficial to the current as well as the future generation. Therefore, countries must work to invest in boosting the economy but taking care of the ecological environments; since the environment is an important factor in enhancing the well-being of people.

References

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, I. (2015). Ecosystems and human well-being in the transition towards green engineering and economy. Ecological Engineering, 74, pp.474-477.

Giddings, B., Hopwood, B. and O’Brien, G. (2012). Environment, economy and society: fitting them together into sustainable development. Sustainable Development, 10(4), pp.187-196.

Chen, S., Ravallion, M., 2008. The developing world is poorer than we thought, but no less successful in the

Clark, A. and Senik-Leygonie, C. (2015). Happiness and economic growth. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Clark, D. (2014). Defining and Measuring Human Well-Being. Global Environmental Change, 1, pp.833-855.

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Rogers, D., Duraiappah, A., Antons, D., Munoz, P., Bai, X., Fragkias, M. and Gutscher, H. (2012). A vision for human well-being: transition to social sustainability. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 4(1), pp.61-73.

Stutzer, A. (2010). The role of income aspirations in individual happiness. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 54(1), pp.89-109.

Anand, S. and Ravallion, M. (1993). Human Development in Poor Countries: On the Role of Private Incomes and Public Services. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 7(1), pp.133-150.

Bloom, D.E., Canning, D. and Sevilla, J., 2004. The effect of health on economic growth: a production function approach. World development, 32(1), pp.1-13.

Jorgenson, A. and Dietz, T. (2006). Economic growth does not reduce the ecological intensity of human well-being. Sustainability Science, 10(1), pp.149-156.

Ryan, R.M. and Deci, E.L., 2012. On happiness and human potentials: A review of research on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Annual review of psychology, 52(1), pp.141-166.

van Kamp, I., Leidelmeijer, K., Marsman, G. and de Hollander, A. (2003). Urban environmental quality and human well-being. Landscape and Urban Planning, 65(1-2), pp.5-18.

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