An
economic crisis can change the face of things and in dramatic fashion, too. Undoubtedly,
the SLP gov’t has a sublime mix of pro-poor social programmes (like STEP, NICE,
SMILES etc); and yet, its economic and fiscal policies look distinctively “pro-republican”.
This begs the question, “does St. Lucia have pro-democratic social policies
and on top of them she has a pro-republican economic policy?
Impulsively,
we may be tempted to rush to judgement and claim that the answer is a “resounding yes”,
especially in the context of the mammoth VAT "cuts" and the proliferation of never-ending concessions granted to the hotel sector, with the bills being footed by the poor and working
class of this country!
But let’s be downright honest and agree that the answer
is not as “linear” as we may think!
The
hotel sector can turn the argument on its head and say “I offer hundreds of
jobs – directly and indirectly - to the poor and I assist significantly in both
the social and economic advancement of the country”. And this holds much water.
So
how do we reconcile the contrasting but equally tenable positions? The answer
lies in their conflation.
The
fact is the two sectors are ostensibly mutually indispensable, with one sector being
“more vulnerable” and the other being “more viable”. For a clearer perspective,
let us summarise the arguments in the context of two hypothetical principles connecting
“development” with “vulnerability” and try to rationalize the puzzle!
Principle 1: vulnerability varies inversely with development (VVID)
Principle 2: vulnerability varies directly with development (VVDD)
Principle 1 (VVID) suggests that vulnerability
decreases as development increases. We generally tend to embrace the economic belief
that development leads to growth - and that growth is potentially a general
panacea for our economic and social problems including the reduction of
vulnerability. Indeed this “model” may
work very well for the wealthy but it does not always work for the poor.
Principle
2 (VVDD) on the other hand implies
that vulnerability increases with development. It is a principle embraced by
institutions such as the World Bank (WB) the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
Both
principles and the models they support have merit.
While development is indisputably
essential and invariably leads to economic expansion, progress and
transformation, it also creates vulnerabilities. Development will make a
country wealthy (or wealthier) but it does always solve poverty; in fact, it is
well documented that it can also result in more poverty and displacement.
TO BE CONTINUED . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment