From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

3 POVERTY AND WEALTH A TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY ECONOMICSOnly the first two core areas (economic activity and income poverty)are customarily covered by conventional economic policy making; theremaining six are usually ignored or downplayed. Yet all need to beconsidered if the real impact of a given policy or institution on humanwell-being is to be understood.For example, a government considering whether to promoteexports by creating export-processing zones or encouraging exportagriculture would still need to think about growth, return on investment,and price stability, as well as wages and government transfers.But in addition, policy makers would have to address the other sixareas. Contemplating the impact on land, air, water, and climatechange might raise concerns about water use, pesticide run-off, or therising carbon emissions from transport. Regarding equity, a governmentmay have to consider whether its actions would benefit the coastmore than the interior, or would exclude ethnic minorities notplugged into the market economy, or whether they would enhancewomen’s employment and wages. Similarly, on unpaid labour, it maydiscover that liberalisation could increase women’s role in the paidworkforce and require state action to support child rearing.In the areas of vulnerability, citizenship, and state effectiveness,other equally important considerations would arise. How wouldvulnerability to individual shocks such as unemployment, or collectiveones such as the sudden loss of market access, be mitigated? Wouldtrade union rights be undermined or strengthened? How would thegovernment pay for services, given the low levels of taxation needed toattract investors? Is the government committed to and able to promoteindustrial upgrading, whether through technical support, finance, orother industrial policies?The neoclassical approach offers a litmus test, often return oninvestment or impact on GDP, to provide a ‘right’ answer. This broaderframework instead reflects the messiness of reality: accounting forwealth and well-being, rather than solely for growth, means internalisingthe costs of resource use, unpaid labour, and other so-called‘externalities’ into everyday economic thinking, and moving theemphasis from flows of goods and services in markets to their impacton welfare and sustainability. This approach includes far more attentionto issues of insecurity and inequality, which are central to well-being117