Falling Short

Is the economy of Guatemala devoted to human development? From the perspective of Amartya Sen, is Guatemala's economy devoted to freedom? There were a multitude of areas addressed in the summary of the National Human Development Report. Many of the topics that were raised and discussed reminded me of many of the same arguments that Sen brought up in Development as Freedom. The fact that there was even a section concerned with human capital was somewhat expected, but comforting to see. It appears as if the country of Guatemala has had it its plan for many decades to provide the necessary resources in order for human development and consequently its economy to be at its peak. There are, however, many areas in which they seem to be lacking certain and necessary components.

The summary of the NHDR states that Guatemala believes that having both a democracy and free markets would surely lead to "prosperity, development, and well-being for the majority of the population" (9). This idea is synonymous with that of Sen's argument for treating the people as agents. When the people are involved in making decisions and feel as if they are contributing to the economy, both the people and the economy in question are bound to thrive. The NHDR also presents another idea that suggests economic growth is the means or medium by which human development is achieved. I believe that there is a paradigm that can be developed from that thought. If the goal of human development is accomplished, then the success of the people will ultimately feed back into the success of the economy encouraging the same growth that sparked the whole thing. Therefore the human development that will hopefully lead to freedom has become a means in addition to the ends. I feel as if this was the plan that Guatemala had in mind for achieving both economic growth and human development, but there was one major problem among others that in my opinion put a dent in those plans. As some others have mentioned, the well-being of Guatemala's economy is troubled by inequality.

There are three main areas that tear this country apart and make it virtually impossible for the larger human development. The percentage of the population suffering from poverty and poverty like conditions is astounding. Over half of the population is living under these conditions while a very small percentage hold a stunning majority of the country's wealth. Two major themes that were regarded as valuable human capabilities according to Sen are access to effective healthcare and a good education. Once again, there is certainly inequality when is comes to the distribution of these two entities throughout the population. Many people in Guatemala are still dying from preventable and curable diseases because they lack the option of and/or accessibility to decent healthcare. There are many of the working age 15 to 24 who barely have a 6th grade education. Healthy and educated citizens certainly contribute to the well being of the country and the strength of its economy. If only a very small percentage of the population has the necessary human capabilities, then the overall human development will be insufficient to power economic development. Chapter 6 of the summary concludes Guatemala's struggle so well... "Without a well-nourished healthy and hightly qualified population, it will be difficult to build a better future for everyone". Without eliminating the inequality within the country, Guatemala will unfortunately continue to fall short in constructing an economy achieving human development.