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SMALL BRANCHES CONFERENCE: 4 - PROGRESS AND WELL-BEING


SMALL BRANCHES CONFERENCE Colombo, Sri Lanka


32nd 4th Session - 10 September 2012


MEASURING PROGRESS AND WELL-BEING BEYOND GDP IN SMALL STATES


Chairperson: Deputy Dr David De Lisle, Guernsey


Discussion Leaders: Sen. the Hon. Claudius James Francis, President of the Senate, Saint Lucia Hon. Barbara Webster- Bourne, MHA, Speaker of the House of Assembly, Anguilla


Although progress and well-being were identified as subjective terms holding different meanings to different people, they were generally recognized as describing the quality of life available to people. The meeting saw the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s “Better Life Index” as a true measure of a country’s development. Gross domestic product (GDP)


is not sufficient on its own to be an indicator of social progress as it measures the progress of the economy but not the society. Members agreed it is necessary to go beyond this economic indicator, adopted as an index in the 1930s to measure a country’s economic development, so the progress of a people in all spheres is considered. The global trend to measure performance of nations by more than just economic growth takes into account poverty rates, unemployment rates, disposable income, education levels, natural resources, environmental pollution, waste disposal and leisure. GDP is an important indicator not to be ignored. But it should be


308 | The Parliamentarian | 2012: Issue Four


considered alongside other indicators such as the “Human Development Index”, which refers to such areas as literacy, health, life expectancy and standard of living to get a true reflection of a country’s progress.


Not just money In her presentation, Hon. Barbara Webster-Bourne, MHA, Speaker of Anguilla’s House of Assembly, stated that GDP only measures the economic value of what is produced but does not take into account the environmental and social cost, how wealth is distributed, who spends it or how it is spent. She made reference to a number of other measures which can be used in addition to GDP to determine progress and well-being, namely: the Human Development Index (HDI), the Ecological Footprint and the Physical Quality of Life Index. She stated that it is necessary to take into consideration factors such as literacy and life-expectancy to get a more complete picture. Sen. the Hon. Claudius James


Francis, President of the Senate of Saint Lucia, took a slightly different approach to the topic.


His presentation held the general consensus that GDP, although a good measurement for economics, is not adequate to reflect overall progress or well-being. As an example to support this argument he stated that in the United States of America, a country with a high GDP, two per cent of the population controls 98 per cent of the wealth. He went further to state that, in his opinion, the progress of the electoral processes in the Caribbean region far exceeds that of the U.S.A. as leaders in the latter were to some extent those who were better financed. He compared this with the Small Branches and stated that although they were mostly young democracies their leaders were in general fairly elected. He considered the overall


progress made by countries in the Caribbean region despite having small GDPs. He made reference to the fact that these small economies have been able to produce world class citizens in almost every field and spoke with great pride of the recent success for the region at the London Olympic Games as well as the success of the West Indies


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