For some time now I have wondered whether Barbados is not on the wrong developmental path.
Wrong in the sense that it might be unrealistic to believe that, given our limited resources, susceptibility to external economic shocks and capital flow volatility, we can pursue ever increasing levels of material well-being. Can such a country possibly achieve ever rising levels of gross domestic product (GDP)? Might it not be better, one wonders, to pursue a level of social wellness, to engage a developmental path that speaks to the “good society” in human rather than material terms.
This notion may be particularly valid if Larry Summers is right in his conclusion that the global economy will for some time to come be stuck in what he calls “secular stagnation” marked by persistently low rates of economic growth.
The idea came back to me after watching Sunday 19th edition of Fareed Zacharia GPS. In one section he engages two writers on the question of whether progress and development should legitimately be measured solely or primarily in relation to GDP.
The discussants were Zachary Karabell, author of The Leading Indicators and Omar Haque author of Betterness And Humans. It emerged from the discussion that the concept of GDP is a relatively new idea, only 75 years old to be exact. Up to much of the 19th century wealth was not a purely monetary concept, but included a whole range of other psychosocial factors. However, recent editions of the Oxford Dictionary now define wealth more restrictively as “money” or “other financially measureable assets”.
Karabell argued that as a measure of development GDP is exaggerated since it only indicates output, products, materials for sale and consumption.
As Robert Kennedy stated of GDP 40 years ago, “It measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.”
On both the individual and collective levels, the obsession with increasing standards of material wealth can create great disillusionment and grief, except for those who few who have unlimited resources. What if the productive capacity of Barbados is not such as to support the consumer-oriented culture we seem bent on? Maybe there comes a time when society and individual must conserve, turn from exorbitance and excess to thrift and frugality. But it is difficult to be frugal or fiscally disciplined when the living is easy.
In his book Boomerang, Michael Lewis has written: “The tsunami of cheap credit that rolled across the planet from 2002 to 2007 wasn’t just money, it was temptation. It offered entire societies the chance to reveal aspects of their characters they could not normally afford to indulge. Entire societies were told, the lights are out, you can do whatever you want to do and no one will ever know.”
Head in the oven
Economists have a genetic predisposition to myopia. The joke is told of the economist who sat with his feet in the freezer and his head in the oven, but he swore to all the world that overall, he was feeling perfectly Ok. Luckily a trend is emerging where it is recognised that it is necessary to focus less on just material production and more on what is being called the General Wellness Index. This index recognises that GDP growth must contribute to the happiness of society as a whole, that in the words of Professor Joerg Tremmel of Tuebingen, Germany, “capital is only an auxiliary value”, an important but not necessarily the preponderant variable in real development.
Some of the leading indicators of social wellness include:
1. A relatively high level of internalised social discipline.
2. An absence or rarity of social pathologies such as crime and violence, drug use and corruption.
3. Social trust and a communitarian ethic.
4. A society based on knowledge and rationality rather than ignorance and superstition.
5. A sense of purpose in our national and personal lives.
Few would deny that in terms of our social probity, traditionally Barbados has ranked quite highly, a fact recognised by others. In his article Denting Bajan Pride, Trinidadian Dr Terrence Farrell wrote: “I have always been an admirer of Barbados and Bajans. It is easily the most disciplined of Caribbean territories.”
However, consumed with misleading indicators about GDP growth, we consoled ourselves with comforting narratives about achieving First World status, high educational achievement and a superficial conventional religiosity. We grew complacent, inattentive and myopic, either ignoring or preferring not to dwell on the real exigencies, dissonances and the increasingly feral darker side of Barbadian life.
The horrendous Campus Trendz incident, drive-by shootings and apparent gang executions represent stark evidence of such. The result is that we face not only an economic but in spite of our social investments, a looming social crisis that threatens to destroy what an 18th century traveller called Barbados,? The Civilized Isle.
• Ralph Jemmott is a retired educator and social commentator; email rajemmott@caribsurf.com
