Statistics, databases and facts are all the currency of our brave new world, our futures, focused on democracy and the hopes of billions. We think we are getting rid of kleptocracies but are we really?
Oh! Ho! You say. What on earth are kleptocracies? Well, Merriam-Webster defines kleptocracy as a “government by those who seek chiefly status and personal gain at the expense of the governed.” We would like to think that such a government-style reflects leaders like the former Libyan leader, Muamar Gaddafi or the former Iraqi leader, Saddam Hassan.
Well, that may be so but unfortunately the word also has the sound of some governments that would have themselves called democracies; governments that hide behind statistics and do not show the world what is really happening.
A Short Case Study
There is a small beautiful country at the bottom of the world called New Zealand. It has been gifted with sufficient water for its people, plenty of land, the ability to grow enough food for all and more and yet there is true poverty. Is the poverty readily recognizable through statistics bandied about in the press or by government leaders? Well, if it were not for a brave company, the New Zealand Institute, deciding to give the country a report card many would continue to live in ignorance. What a pity we do not give report cards for all nations.
Unfortunately New Zealand did not come out very well on its report card. In fact, if this were a report card for a child in school the child would probably be considered to be failing. Here is a nation called a ‘developed nation’ by the UN (note UN Statistical Year Book) and yet it is failing its citizens.
Before we get too morbid it has to be said the New Zealand Institue's Report Card said New Zealand is doing pretty well in the area of education. According to the OECD rankings it is ranked forth in reading skills, seventh in math skills and forth in science skills. One would think this great education would lead on to other great things.
Well it does. It has had three Nobel Peace Prize winners in the sciences in the past few years, more than four times it near neighbor when taken as a percentage of the population, but it does not do well on the creativity stakes according to the New Zealand Institute. It is not even one of the greenest countries. ‘Clean green’ is a catch phase for the tourism industry. It is ranked nineteenth by the UN Human Development Indicators and that was in 2006. The air and water quality has decreased since them.
Really Bad Figures
So what are the really bad figures? What gets D grades? Well, ‘D’s were given for assault mortality, household wealth, labor productivity, innovation and business sophistication, CO2 concentration in the atmosphere, and CO2e emissions per capita.
There seems to be a structural problem here. If people are not able to access jobs to their level of education and ability they tend not to work very productively. They prefer to think of work as something done to pay the bills and not-work as where real life happens. Unfortunately, work takes the majority of one’s life and is going to take more if the retirement age is raised to 67 after the forthcoming parliamentary elections. The problem of emissions is also a problem associated with low return for work performed. Health is affected and unhealthy people have difficulty being productive It can also be that senior management is either taking too much out of the companies or not putting enough into development or they are not making sufficient returns. Whatever the reason it is not good for health, tourism, the future economy or especially for the health potential of the citizens.
Assaults are also associated with low self-esteem often related to poor opportunities. When you tie this with the ‘C’ grade for suicide, especially among the young, it points to the need for high creativity to ensure there are high-interest jobs.
The Report Card
In many ways the report card is a much better way of presenting statistics than the actual statistics. However, when the report card is coupled with the real decline in GDP then the statistics become useful. New Zealand has been on a steady decline in real GED since approximately 1976 according to the New Zealand Treasury report which compared OECD (2002), Maddison (2001), and Penn World Tables data. The indicators have continued in a steady decline until today. If you couple this data with the fact that in 2008 Auckland – the largest city – is ranked eighteenth among the world’s most expensive cities to live in, that is one behind Toronto and just three above Dubai – one has to wonder why the negative statistics are not worse.
On the positive side murders and family violence are on the decrease but these results are hurt by the rise in child abuse and neglect; a hateful situation and one that should never exist in a ‘developed’ nation.
A Thought
If a nation that is so blessed as New Zealand is struggling with our brave new world ‘of money is king’ then how much greater the affect of world economic policies must be on the so called developing or emerging nations.
A Shocking Statistic
While researching for this article one shocking statistic leapt out at me. The USA ranked first in prison incarceration. It has 738 per every 100,000 people imprisoned; a figure followed closely by Russia (note United Nations Development Program statistics). New Zealand is fortunate in that it ranked forty-ninth at 186 per 100,000. It is one statistic that it is great to be ranked at the high end.
A quote
It seems best to end this article with a quote used by the New Zealand Institute, a quote from that famous American, Fanklin D. Roosevelt. He said, “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”
It seems the ‘developed’ world still has not learnt that simple truth. Are we allowing the kleptocratic leaders to lead us? If so, it will be all down hill from here.
Sources
- Merriam-Webster. Accessed 29 October, 2011.
- New Zealand Institute. 2011. A report card of New Zealand’s social, economic and environmental wellbeing. Measuring New Zealand’s performance so we can improve it.
- New Zealand Treasury. New Zealand’s Place in the OECD Ladder. Accessed 29 October 2011.
- United Nations Development Program. 2007. Accessed 29 October, 2011.
- UN Statistical Year Book. 2009. Fifty-fourth Issue. Accessed 9 October, 2011.
Patricia Berwick - Dr Patricia Berwick is an Educationalist/Anthropologist with over 20 years international experience in management, research, teaching and ...
