Student: Joey Benyair
Graduation date: May 2019
Type: Area of Interest (double major)
Date approved: November 2017
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Summary
This concentration theme uses the two social relations topics of economics and development to show the influence of the entire dedicated field of economic development. Economics, the study of human behavior given scarcity, is a key focal point that informs policy makers. This social science utilizes psychology to explain how agents form decisions in a market based context (Mullainathan, 2000). This key framework quantitatively and qualitatively explains reasoning, making it foundational to policy information. The second incorporated social relations topic is development. The developing world consists of less developed countries (LDCs), underdeveloped countries and pre-industrialized countries, all measured via a human development index (HDI). The developing world is at a social disadvantage in terms of being more risk prone to endogenous/exogenous events such as climate change (Adger et., 2003). In a global effort to mitigate climate change, aid LDCs in their adaptivity to climate change and to increase human well being, it is crucial to understand which development strategies work and where they are effective (Banerjee et al., 1993).
The influence economic development has, will be highlighted in both human and in ecosystem health terms. The ways in which the natural world and the built environment affect human health are structurally determined by the level of economic development a region or country has. Social factors affect the ways in which humans perceive the natural world and therefore how they interact with it. Economic development shows which tools are effective in increasing the level of variables of interest in an attempt to increase overall development. The implication of increasing development is the change in quality in human health, reducing ecological impacts, human imprint and other human-nature interactions (Kanninen, 2007). Finding and achieving ways to increase development in lesser developed countries that changes the relationship/attitudes that humans have with their environment is key in establishing sustainable and maintained human health over time (Cameron 2002).
Determining the variables that cause economic stratification and the differences between the level of development in a location is the first focal point (Banerjee 1993). Distinguishing the degree of impact that variables have such as education, access to health care, general health, employment factors, gender roles etc, begins to unveil the magnitude in quantifiable change that foreign aid and policy implementation can have (Kremer et al., 2009). The implication of rising development levels, income, health and cognition is the power to shift attitudes and concerns for the environment people live in and how rapidly changing/at risk it is. In short, increasing people’s well being has the power to reduce ecological impact in a positive feedback loop that perpetuates increasing human well being along with ecological well being.
Recognizing economic development’s power and influence in mitigating the uneven distribution of climate change impacts can aid the formation of policy that will make lesser developed countries better equipped to deal with these inequities (Barton, 2009). Therefore it is relevant in that human health is more vulnerable and subject to risk due to climate change than ever before, and economic development is a key component to enact quantifiable change (Kapucu, 2008). Highlighting the duality of human health and the natural world will create meaning in terms of health’s relate-ability. This meaning is instrumental to enact change given human health at a global level is at stake. Worldly and interconnected concerns like this help redefine the role that individuals and institutions have in creating quantifiable change.
Resources
Adger, W. Neil, Saleemul Huq, Katrina Brown, Declan Conway, and Mike Hulme. 2003. “Adaptation to Climate Change in the Developing World.” Progress in Development Studies 3 (3): 179–95. doi:10.1191/1464993403ps060oa.
Banerjee, Abhijit V., and Andrew F. Newman. 1993. “Occupational Choice and the Process of Development.” Journal of Political Economy 101 (2): 274–98. doi:10.2307/2138820.
Barton, Hugh. 2009. “Land Use Planning and Health and Well-Being.” Land Use Policy 26 (December): S115–23. doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2009.09.008.
Cameron, Trudy, Gregory L. Poe, Robert G. Ethier, and William Schulze. 2002. Alternative Non-Market Value-Elicitation Methods: Are the Underlying Preferences the Same? Vol. 44.
Kanninen, Barbara J., ed. 2007. Valuing Environmental Amenities Using Stated Choice Studies: A Common Sense Approach to Theory and Practice. The Economics of Non-Market Goods and Resources, v. 8. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.
Kapucu, Naim. 2008. “Collaborative Emergency Management: Better Community Organising, Better Public Preparedness and Response.” Disasters 32 (2): 239–62. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7717.2008.01037.x.
Kremer, Michael, and Alaka Holla. 2009. “Improving Education in the Developing World: What Have We Learned from Randomized Evaluations?” Annual Review of Economics 1 (1): 513–42. doi:10.1146/annurev.economics.050708.143323.
Mullainathan, Sendhil, and Richard H. Thaler. 2000. “Behavioral Economics.” National Bureau of Economic Research. http://www.nber.org/papers/w7948.
Questions
Descriptive
- What are the main factors hindering development in LDCs?
- Which aspects of human health can be transformed to increase economic development?
Explanatory
- Why are persons in lesser developed regions and countries more risk prone to environmental catastrophe and development divergence?
Evaluative
- As global climate change intensifies, to what extent are persons in lessor developed countries and regions disproportionately affected?
Instrumental
- Do investments such as health care access, vaccination and nourishment spark development in LDCs?
- Which development strategies are analogous country to county that promote ecosystem vitality and human health?
Arts and humanities courses
- PHIL 215 (Philosophy and the Environment, 4 credits). Pre-approved A&H course; no justification required.
- RELS 224 (Jewish Origins, 4 credits) Fall 2018. Analysis of key themes in the study of early Judaism such as gender, colonialism, multiculturalism and identity who's concepts are foundational to implementing economic development strategies in LDCs.