Reflections on human development
- Delhi Oxford University Press 1996
- 252 p.
Reflections on Human Development explores a new development paradigm whose central focus is human well-being. Increases in income are treated as essential means, but not as the end of development-and not as the sum total of human life.
The book discusses development policies and strategies that link economic growth with human lives in various societies. It also analyses the evolution of a new human dev elopment index as a far more comprehen sive measure of socio-economic progress than the traditional measure of gross national product. For the first time, a political freedom index is presented, too.
The book offers a new vision of human security for the 21st century-where real security is equated with security of people in their homes, in their jobs, in their communities and in their environment. It also presents many concrete proposals in this context, including a global 20:20 compact to overcome the worst aspects of global poverty within a decade, key reforms in the Bretton Woods institutions of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund and the establishment of a new Economic Security Council within the United Nations.