>You might want to pass this info along to him: 1) it's not "privately
>generated," it comes from the UN Development Program,
>
>Doug
Actually, if you look at the report itself, you will discover that the main
sources for the statistics are the World Bank and IMF:
"International Monetary Fund (IMF): The IMF has an extensive programme for
developing and compiling statistics on international financial transactions
and balance of payments. Much of the economic data provided to the Human
Development Report Office by other agencies originate from the IMF.
"World Bank: the World Bank produces data on economic trends as well as a
broad array of other data. Its World Development Indicators is the primary
source for a number of the indicators presented in the Report."
Those of us on the left who have been studying current events over the past
20 years or so have taken note of the tendency of underdeveloped nations to
buckle under to pressure from the World Bank and the IMF. In order to
qualify for loans, they have to gut social services, especially in health
and education. The consequences of this, logically speaking, would be a
decline in health and education indicators. My own reading of the radical
books and magazines from underdeveloped countries tends to reinforce that
view.
Now it is very interesting that a Human Development Indicators Report based
mainly on the findings of the World Bank and the IMF presents generally
improving health and education statistics, despite this onslaught. The
cynical among us might question the veracity of the data, but I will allow
Doug Henwood to remain a true believer.
Louis Proyect
Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org/
